Motivation Issues

[NitroM3GTR]

I think I have motivation issues. I keep getting F's on my math assignments, although I do have a C in the class(79.5%, but I haven't done finals, which will be hard, it's an AP class). I have a low, low B in English, but again, I haven't taken the finals, and since that's also an AP class too, they too will be difficult. One of my friends is getting an A in every class, but I can tell that in many ways I am smarter than him. I don't study at all and I don't try very hard. This I know to be a stupid move, but I can't seem to get motivated. Recently I've been doing my homework as soon as I get home, and reviewing other work with my mom. My dad works all day and all night, so I can never ask him for help.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I desperately want to be motivated, but I just can't find the catalyst.

 

[FastEddy]

Take a walk over to the local soup kitchen and talk to a few of the people who are eating.

 

[woody]

Hey man,
Nothing come easy in this hidious world! You have to work for everything you want! Your just gonna have to buckle down and try. If you still fail, then you knew that you tried your hardest! That in itself is all that your parents can ask from you. Keep your head up, and when you are down on the dumps, try to think happy thoughts. I'm in the Military, and I have to go to those happy places often! It is hard to stay motivated, but just think of the outcomes, or where passing will get you. Next grade?? Summer?? Graduated?? You have to make good out of a bad situation! I wish you the best! Just my .02:tank:

 

[NitroM3GTR]

FastEddy- I have no idea what you meant by that, but thanks for the advice anyway...
woody- True, nothing does come easy, and I know that I am not trying my hardest. My parents expect A's and B's from me every semester, and I know that if I try, I can get all A's. However, I haven't had all A's since 6th grade. I have no motivation to get better than B's, unless it's a class that I would actually have to try to get worse in, such as P.E.
I keep telling myself to try harder, but it's not working. I suppose it has something to do with me trying to fit in, and hey, these popular kids don't have great grades! I should focus on the work, though, because me becoming popular is close to impossible anyway and high school popularity doesn't make a whole lot of difference in my adult life, whereas good grades can.
Thanks for the help(and sorry if there were any grammatical or spelling errors, I tend to err when I'm tired)
-Matt

 

[RuSSty]

Find the bits you can do and do them first. Then find the bits that are next easiest and do them. If you break it down ito small enough pieces, there's always something you can do straight away.
Just focus on the future dude, it's like a pension plan, you bank it now and reap the rewards later!
Other than that refer to the soup kitchen comment by FastEddy, you wanna be eating soup or one of the directors at Heinz?

 

[lykan]

Seems looking bakc I feel.. this way (not that it actually worked this way) it just seemed like it.

I always considered myself pretty intelligent. I aced my tests in class, but never had the motivation to do the actual work.. so when I should have been getting A's i was getting c's. I most likely could have gotten a acedemic scholarship anywhere i wanted.

Instead I was kind of a well.. a geek in school.. after 8th grade that changed I learned all about being tough..making friends and taking no poop from anyone.. I went from c's and occasional b's to D's. I didn't feel popular at the time but looking back I had alot of friends (confidence i guess)

Here's what happened.. to prove to myself I was "Tough and cool" like I wanted to be I ended up skipping school and putting acedemics on the back burner.. It's all about being cool and getting chicks right? I ended up meeting one and we're married now.

instead of going to school for computers (I acceled in) I ended up working construction. I went from being agrunt to being a superintendant of high steel in just a few years. I thought "look at these guys going to school and such Gah!! I'm making 2x as much and I didn't go to college, I earned it" what ahead start eh? cars house etc before they were even out of college. I had the good life.

Well, at 30 I went in to get my knees scoped (just couldn't handle the pain anymore). The doc after 15 minute on the table says "I can't do anythign for you, you have rheumetoid arthrtis and the knees of a 70yr old." So I worked for a few more years at construction until I just couldn't anymore.. Now I need help to get out of the bed at 33 yrs old (on the bad days).

I can't water skii anymore. I don't make 70k a year anymore. Even though I have the time off now I can't do what I enjoy. On the cold days it's a bitch just to get the damned nitro started (wrists screwed now too). I pray for winter to end while I watch my buddys Ski, snowmobile and 4wheel. :violin:

Some of my lessons.
#1 I have the wife "I always wanted" I would have ended up with her anyways no matter how "cool I was". My personal fight to prove to myself I was cool cost my me youth, and ultimately cost me the ability to support my kids and wife the way I wanted to.

#2 Again, proving I was cool and could hang with the tough guys in construction brought me self confidence, money and pride. Now somedays I have to have my 12 yr old boy start the nitro ,cause my hands don't work. Kinda rough teaching your boy to water skii, and not being able to hold onto the rope yourself.

Doc says if I would have taken care of myself in the younger years, this diasease wouldn't have been prevalent until I was 70 or so. My sense of cool, and pride cost me a lot now and I'm only 30. :violin:

I would have gone to school, got a career in computers (what I am honestly good at) earlier. I would have had something to fall back on , and I would still have my youth.

My advice? Balance. Go.. be cool take that time. Make friends be popular. BUT if ..just if you put in 50% of your effort into school just 50% I bet your grades will rocket. Go have your fun. When your tired and done for the night.. crack the books :whip: . This way if you want to do something the door is open later. Hell get good, (or just decent grades) until your out of high school then screw off.

Just incase you have to fall back on your brains later in life, It will be a load easier if you have a little bit of paper to back you up.

I had no idea I would get arthritis at 30 lol... no way not me LMAO. I could have never guess my career would be taken away from me atmy prime.. I had it all figured out lol...

I run a computer shop now, and support networks, I do on site repair etc. I do okay I suppose.

BUT the transition from high steel superintendant to computer business owner was not an easy one. It took a lot of time and a lot of months wondering if I was going to make the rent, and not doing what I wanted for lack of funds.

Looking back I would rather still have the full use of my hands and knees, and a stable income for my family. If I would have had just a single clue.If I would have put in only 1/4 the effort I did on being tough and cool into school, and or on acedemics, I have a feeling I would be elsewhere right now instead of just now starting to "make it"

Blah blah blah lol..morale of the story, I dunno lol what a whiner :help: :violin:

Things change fast. Keep all your doors open. Me... I slammed mine & locked them behind me. Having no idea I would have to re-open them so soon. :violin:

Looking bakc it would have been SOO easy to crack the books once in a while. Compared to the things I HAVE to do now. I could have done both. Taken the time to become populare, worked on my social skills, become tough :boxing: , AND done good in school

Hey then again, you never know you could bust your ass in college school etc, find a killer job then win the lottery!

BTW do you know how many high school cheerleaders that wouldn't give me the time of day, hit on me now when they are behind the counter of the AM-PM lol . How many high school "Cool guys" that I could never compare myself to then Are now the fixture at the local tavern every night after work at the plant, single two job working guys.

Things change so damned fast after school. hhe a lot of the "Geeks" in school are now some pretty damned wealthy popular guy these days :violin:

 

[Candyman]

I'll start by saying I'm 36. I have 3 college degrees. A BA in Psychology, an MS in Audiology, and a doctorate (Au.D.) in Audiology. But at the same time I can totally relate. I was the same way as you in high school. Perfectly capable of doing the work, but not really feeling like it. I managed to just squeak through school. Came close to my Regents diploma but fell one credit short and really didn't care at the time. Back then it was easy to be short sighted. Thinking that what I was doing then didn't matter.

If I could do it all again, I'd do it differently. I learned that everything you do in school matters. Whether you're going to use the information or not, just the achievement is more valuable than anything. I have the curse of looking back and thinking "what if?" The responsibility of all this falls squarely on you. Motivation? It's simple. Success. Success rules. When I was in school, I always thought you were a geek if you were smart so I hid a lot of what I knew. And in the end, it only hurt me. Now that I'm 20 years older, I realize that being smart is a really great thing. Just like playing the piano. Another thing that I never learned to do because I thought it was nerdy. So now I humbly tell people that I'm a doctor. I tell them I have an IQ of 145 and I was a member of American Mensa for 2 years. I don't flaunt it, but I'm also not afraid to admit it.

And Eddy's comment in essence was a very poignant one. Look around. His soup kitchen comment refers to the potential for lifelong disaster if you don't take education seriously. I bet you won't find too many college graduates and probably many people who didn't finish high school in line at your local soup kitchen. And don't afraid to be smart. This world needs more really smart, motivated people. Just make sure you have fun along the way.

I bet if you try for just one semester you'd be amazed at the grades you'll get. And I bet that once you see those grades, you'll be totally motivated to get them again. All it takes is once and you'll be hooked. You've already shown that you want to do this. Now it's time to do it...

 

[lykan]

Very sound advice candy man

 

[NitroM3GTR]

Thanks for all the replies, and although I had read all of them I hadn't replied because of lack of time. However, your advice did have an effect on me, and I decided to study for each of my harder finals, hoping that by putting forth enough effort I could do just fine on them. The result of my studying was keeping or raising my grade in every class. My Geometry final was simple after only a few hours of studying. My English class, which I previously considered to be a difficult class, suddenly became much easier to me after I put forth that bit of effort. I don't know my overall grade on the final in that class, but one of my friends who was grading the tests told me I got a perfect score on one of the longer sections. My grades now look like this:
Period 1, Honors Geometry: B
Period 2, Honors English: B+
Period 3, Honors Biology: B+
Period 4, Advanced Computer Skills: A
Period 5, P.E. : A+
Period 6, French 1: A
This semester I am setting a goal to get all A's, along with having a weekend job. Once again, your replies to this thread were the key factor in raising my motivation levels.

Thank you all,
Matt