Having Trouble Focusing

[Death]

Okay. This year, it seems like I have hit a brick wall, in terms of grades, and how well I use my time. Last year, I had an overall average of 94.5 the third highest in my grade.
This year my highest mark is a 91. And my overall average is 85 (which is horrible).

Every day, I have homework. But I have extreme difficulty actually getting STARTED on it. And so, I waste about an hour or so not doing anything. Every day is like this. I rush things and I got a piano exam coming up as well, which I practise for like 30 min tops. I just want to not do anything but watch t.v or something.

What is happening?! I have already a few 60's in school and I don't think Im going to be passing that exam anytime soon (gr. 10). WTF? (I am in gr. 11 btw).

 

[Overload]

I used to do my homework at home, but now I mainly do it in school in the morning when I have free time. I'm sort of in the same situation as you, and I tend to have a problem with procrastination. Try rewarding yourself every time you get something done. For example, when you complete your homework play video games for an hour or something. You may be thinking "Oh, I can just play video games anyways without doing the homework." But this is not the mindset one should have. If you play after you get the stuff done, you won't feel guilty about it. Also, keep reminding yourself you will regret it later on if you don't step it up. Also, as a different reward, try going out and buying yourself a game or something, even if you don't really want to spend money and would usually regret buying things, and just go buy something guilt free, it will feel good. Hooray materialism!

 

[JLynn943]

wish I could help you out, but I've been dealing with the same thing.

I do want to do my work and get good grades, I just can't get myself to do anything.

 

[Mith_]

I had the same problem. In fact I should be studying right now for my exam this Friday.

 

[Azua]

Try doing something to get yourself motivated - maybe only allowing yourself to watch TV after you've done what you needed to do, as sort of a reward for doing it.

Trust me, you'll enjoy your TV or whatever more knowing that you deserve it, and you'll enjoy life more without stuff hanging over your head.



[I found this topic deliciously amusing coming from "Death." ]

 

[The Boss of God]

Indeed, it is a common problem.
There are, however, students who know exactly how to work the skin off of their bones.
But they have awesome amounts of sheer willpower.
I am not sure how to develop willpower.
However, it would help you greatly if you had it.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

just try to reward yourself for doing work and keep a close watch on the time so you can tell how long you've been doing something.

 

[OmegaXXII]

Like Azua mentioned, just knowing that you've worked hard with a reward at the end will surely get you motivated to do your HW almost everytime in the the future.

 

[SirroMinus1]

Your putting to much pressure on yourself.

 

[Sean²]

Do your homework someplace where you won't be tempted to procrastinate, like the library or an empty classroom.

 

[choknater]

Ah, creating that short term motivation for yourself is really helpful.

Don't do stuff that wastes time before finishing your work.

I am super terrible at this. Haha I can't believe I know this advice yet I never do it.

Ugh.

I'm even procrastinating right now.

 

[victra♥]

What I do is I sit in an empty room, listen to music and work. You'll get into the zone and hours will pass without you even realizing it.

 

[LordoftheMorning]

I have the same problem. It's pissing me off. I used to just rely on my good brain and not study, but I can't do that forever and it's starting to lose effectiveness. I really need to learn to study.

 

[manhunter098]

Im not sure that I will ever actually have to sit down and study, but getting work done is a pain. Even now I have an essay to write for my English Composition class and its like 2 AM in the morning and its due at like 3:00PM today, I even had Veterans Day off Tuesday and sat around bored all day. Ive pretty much been like this since I stopped doing my homework in class because I started to have to pay attention, still dont have to study though, and I really hope it never comes to that.

 

[Overload]

I don't have to study either. The only studying I might have to do once in a while, if you even want to call it studying, is look over the material for a couple of minutes right before the test.

Also, some more advice. Take baby steps. Don't say to yourself "If I'm not going to do a lot, I might as well just not do anything." IF you think like this, you will end up having to do it all at the last minute because you didn't want to work on it unless you were going to do a huge amount at once, which nobody really feels like doing, which is why you didn't get it done. This is sort of what's happening with me right now. I'm starting to take baby steps though. It's better to chip away at something when you have a decent amount of time to get it done. Also, if you do end up doing a little bit of work and are thinking "I didn't get much done, I wish I had done more." Simply tell yourself "At least I got SOMETHING done, instead of just doing nothing at all." This stuff really works. It's helping me out at least.

 

[.Marik]

Well, nothing else I can really say that someone hasn't already said...

You just need to set goals, and motivate yourself.