I don't necessarily recommend it, but dropping out of college for a year and working dead-end low-wage jobs got me to go back with a renewed vigor and willingne

I don't necessarily recommend it, but dropping out of college for a year and working dead-end low-wage jobs got me to go back with a renewed vigor and willingness to focus. Subjects and activities I found boring and impossible to focus on suddenly gained a new weight that pushed me through my previous limitations. Another poster mentioned it, but seeking mastery over the whims and desires of your mind is paramount. My anecdote above was basically that. My mind never stopped fighting me, begging me to be lazy and go play video games. But the inner acknowledgement that I had to succeed and graduate let me fight against it. I also changed my environment, working out of coffee shops and computer labs, surrounded by other people studying and working their asses off. I joined the ACM chapter at my school and expanded my social network to include people who were working as hard as I wanted to. This provided mental sustenance when my personal discipline would wane. I suggest listening and reading all of John Cleese's talks on creativity. The painful level of effort he describes is fundamentally related to these challenges. Also, caffeine, copious amounts of it.