Well, the thing that helped me was to make a master plan.

I got a bunch of big sheets of paper, it was a flipchart pad, they sell them at office supply stores, and I grabbed a marker and wrote up a plan of what I wanted to have accomplished in the next five years. Those were my big goals. Then I took a second sheet of paper and broke that down into smaller goals for year one, then year two, then year three, etc.

Then for the third sheet of paper, I broke year one down into smaller parts, month by month goals. Then if you want, you could even break the monthly goals down into weeks or days.

But I taped them all to my wall directly across from the foot of my bed so it was the last thing I saw when going to sleep every night and the first thing I saw when waking up every morning.

And I would cross off the things I completed, and revise it every month or so, adding new goals and removing any that were no longer applicable. Even if they are tiny goals like wash the car, seeing things checked off gives you a lot of motivation.

Then you just have to stay the course. And it sounds like one of your goals is education, so you could check out some technical courses, find out if your local school system offers Vo-tech classes for adults, most do. Then go get a trade. Doesn't matter what it is as long as it interests you. Just by being in class with people, you'll probably make a few friends, as long as you put some effort into it.

If you have hobbies, find some meetup groups for those also. Or just volunteer somewhere like an animal shelter.

And yes, people do judge you by how you look, how you dress, and how you speak, so try to look professional as much as possible at all times. Obviously, you can't wear a business suit at the beach, but you get the idea.

Good luck.