Trouble with school -- slothfulness

[CHCatholic]

Alright well I’m sure procrastination is a common thing and we all go through it, especially high school students such as myself, but I think my case is more to the extreme and its really frustrating me. In my earlier days of elementary school/high school I was a whiz-kid, got great marks (90%+ averages). Then I slowly declined into the vice that is laziness and now I’ve hit 50% averages in some courses. Some courses I am doing fine, but my laziness (which started about 3 years ago) has gotten me so far off the track its such an immense hill to climb up to get back to doing well, I feel its almost impossible and don’t do it. And when I try to, I get lazy and give up…see the trend?
Does anyone have any idea how to kick the lazy habit. It honestly is hard, I mean people are always on hear asking how to kick masturbating, its pretty much the same thing, its a vice that needs a lot to be broken…and God knows I don’t have a strong enough will-power to break it…

help?

 

[wcknight]

It’s been a loooonnnnng time since high school but here’s my take on it. When I was in HS, I went through a stage when I was just plain tired of going to school. After 9 or 10 years of school I started to lose interest and my grades also suffered.

With some of the subjects I just could not get interested in (Latin, Chemistry, English lit, History), and I struggled and the more I struggled the less I liked them and the less interested I was… so around and around it went.

It wasn’t until late junior year and early senior year that I started to think about college, and of course college requires good grades. I forced myself to like other classes (I used to only like Math and hated everything else). I had read that if you did not like something you would not do well in it. It is very true and I literally forced myself to like many other subjects.

I think if you can focus on the big picture, and the long term benefits of getting decent grades, you may be more motivated. The day to day grind of doing homework and studying can be quite boring and tedious. But when you put it in persepective and think about how important it is to your overall future, it can be a very positive driving force…

College does make a huge difference. College graduates make much more than non-college or high school drop outs. Not that money should be your guiding force, but your standard of living is greatly impacted by your ability to find the right job and hold it. Being able to read, write and think well, will help you no matter what you choose to do.

You will find that it is not the individual facts or details that you have to remember (in the short run, these are imporant) but (in the long run) the fact that you learn how to study, how to solve problems and that you develop the confidence to face, and handle difficult subjects.

I don’t remember a thing about advance math, but the fact that I successfully completed it gives me the confidence to face any problems and know that I will know how to approach the problems and prevail.

Critical thinking, problem solving, being able to express yourself and being able to understand others, logic and common sense will all go a long ways to developing the skills to have a successful career in just about anything.

I hope this helps, good luck and God bless.

 

[Mot_Juste]

Procrastination is a hard habit to break. I fought it for years. It still causes me problems in some areas of my life, but I’ve managed to deal with it in others, so it’s not the big problem it used to be. But from high school, through college, and into my early career, it was a real problem.

I don’t have a quick fix solution for you, but I can maybe offer a few tips and I’d be glad to offer more as I think of them.

One thing to think about is trying to find the underlying cause of your procrastination. You already recognize that it is not rational and that it is causing you harm, so why, in the moment of choice, doesn’t that clarity guide you to make the decision that you won’t regret later?

For me, I think lack of trust was a factor. Someone might say, “Why don’t you do your homework now, so that you’ll have it done and then you can enjoy the weekend free and clear, without the weight of guilt hanging over you?” Sounds good, but inside, perhaps subconsciously, I felt like there’d just be another chore to be done, so I better get my fun in now while I can get away with it. Then, later, when other demands come along, I can beg off because I still have to finish my homework.

Slacking off is a way to assert control over how you use your time, but it is a poor way that ultimately hurts you. It damages relationships with the people who want to depend on you, and it is stealing from your future self who is going to have to deal with the mess.

Let me know if any of this is on the right track, or if it’s just totally off base.

But definitely, congratulations to you for recognizing that this is something you need to work on. Developing the habit of hard work is arguably more important than anything else you could learn in high school. The bad news is that you are years behind your peers who had to figure this out back when you were breezing through as the whiz kid. The good news is that it is never too late.

–Bill

 

[water]

Others have given really great advices. I also like to say something about being lazy.

As you mentioned that God knows I didn’t have a strong enough will-power to break it, but you do know that when you ask God to break it, He’ll help you.

One thing we must be grateful to God is the time that He has given us. Imagine if He directly let you know you have 6 months to live, what would you do? would you be so regret that when you have all the time to accomplish things, you did not do it?

One way to please God is to use His time wisely.

 

[Pani_Rose]

Our daughter is 24 and a lot of her friends were just plain bored with high school. This particular school was a ‘magnet school’ about the best high school in our system, as kids had to test to attend it.

A lot of her friends, some as sophomores and other juniors, took the GED and went on to college. Though this high school was the most challangeing, these kids were basically BORED! So they took the next two years going to a two year college getting basics out of the way, then at 18 started in one of the universities.

Are you bored?