I NEED HELP WITH HIGH SCHOOL

[nowwhat]

The majority of your adult waking hours will consist of doing things you have no interest in doing, merely to avoid or delay negative consequences. The better you do at nonappealing things now, the more disciplined you will be to deal with this stuff quickly and well. The better you do in school, the more OPTIONS you will have in life and the more control you will have over how bored you will be and how trapped you will feel during your long, relentless adulthood. Do yourself a favor and suck it up. Not for college, but for what comes after.

 

[JustJessie]

I was you just over a year ago, freshman struggling to see the point of trying. High school is roughhhh. Over the past year, I've found various strategies to help me succeed that I hope can help you

1. Habitica. If you even remotely like video or tabletop games, I cannot recommend this enough. Habitica is a productivity app that Gamifies your tasks, giving you gold, exp, and sometimes loot for completing tasks, and hurting your character if you miss doing something you needed to do or do something you shouldn't (in your case, "Play games before all homework done"). Not only that, you can form parties with friends to fight bosses, and be held accountable, as your party will be hurt when you are too. Plus, the website has a huge community of forums, or "guilds", I actually just came here from the Autistic Adventurers Guild myself. I will say, it may take a few weeks to get used to, but as you can tell by my long post about it, it may become an obsession or at least a useful way to get things done. It's best used as a website but iPhone and Android apps are available too. And it's completely free. Gosh, I sound like an advertisement. If you don't like Habitica, try to find some sort of task managing app, because keeping track of everything you need to do in your mind alone is impossible.
2. Thomas Frank, also known as CollegeInfoGeek. While it may say college, a lot of his youtube videos have good advice that can apply to highschool just the same. His videos center around advice for doing well in school, whether that's studying, finding passion, or managing your time. When you run out of videos, he has a free book that has some great advice, and he also has a long running podcast series, where he both talks about more advice, but also brings on special guests that are successful in some category to interview and give advice themselves. And this is the guy who told me about Habitica, funnily enough
3. Balance Work time and You time. From your description, you're having trouble with not procrastinating playing games. One problem in my experience is that highschool is soooo lifeforce depleting that I don't have energy afterschool usually. What's helped me is immediately afterschool I get a snack and drink, and let myself have 30mins break. Then, I start with an easier task like unloading the dishwasher, then I'm in that zone of "Ok, work time now" and I get started on work. Thomas Frank will mention this in many of his videos, but the Pomodoro technique is super useful, just working for 25 mins then take a 5 min break. Make sure this break isn't "scroll through forums" however, as that will easily be longer than 5 mins. But don't be working all the time. Make sure to schedule some time for something fun like Train Simulator. Say "At 8:00pm, I get to play Train Simulator for an hour, even if I'm not done". The time restraint that puts on your previous hours will hopefully help you work more quickly and efficiently. Also, try to limit low-density fun (scrolling through youtube, instagram, forums, etc) as while these things are ok, things like Train Simulator probably give a bunch more satisfaction and stress relief. This is one I struggle with right now, as can be seen clearly by me taking an hour typing this message to a stranger on the internet rather than something more productive
4. For the lack of interest side of things: There isn't too much to be done, other than pushing yourself to complete what is needed. Always look at rubrics to get a better idea of what is expected, and do what you need to but don't go above and beyond if you don't want to waste the energy. For history, whatever you don't understand in class, look up on wikipedia and take notes, maybe use flashcards. For math, Khan Academy is amazing. English is a hard one, same with other languages.

I can't say these will work for you, but these are some things that have really helped me. A lot of the replies here are just saying tough it up, and while I agree to some extent that a lot of it is self-discipline, I believe the original poster was looking for ideas and resources to help him, not everyone to berate him like they're his parents.

 

[Reedstorm17]

I'm a junior in high school, and I definitely struggled a lot freshman year with being able to focus on the subjects I just didn't find interesting. I would instead draw or play games on my phone or computer.

Never mind, I still do that.

I worked out a system, though. I kind of go back and forth. Do a little bit of an assignment, play games, do a little more, play more games. When the working segments begin to get much shorter, I stop and take a break. If a small assignment feels too hard and stresses me out too much, I do what I can and then just hope it's enough. On bigger assignments, I ask for extensions. My teachers are always willing to give me a little more time because I struggle mostly with long-term assignments.

I manage to get by with Bs, which is lower than I used to get, but enough. My point is that you shouldn't overwork. If something is too hard for you, don't majorly stress yourself out over it. Mental health is more important than acandemics. If you need more time on something, let your teachers know. They are most likely willing to help you.

 

[Hallzers]

Does anyone agree with that? I understand computers very well (as I attempted to find a prime with 80 million digits in it), but what I believe Violet is referring to is a virtual machine. Is that right?

Well... yes and no.

1. Begin with the end in mind. Determine your desired outcomes, then work backwards until you arrive at today.

By knowing your desired outcomes, you'll know the minimum GPA you need, et cetera. You'll also know which courses you can blow off or skip, which tests you can skip, and whether or not you can skip college.

2. If you are meaningful and specific in your course-planning towards your career, then you can see meaning and purpose in required courses if they get you where you want to go. This makes those courses relevant to you, even if you hate them.

3. Its worth it to pay the price to get where you want to be, even if you don't enjoy every step of the way to get there. Don't settle for being a wandering, pointless piece of mediocrity.

4. With that in mind, yes, you are a virtual machine and you want your focus to line up with your strengths.


Also, remember that just because you're not interested in something today, that doesn't mean you won't be infatuated with the subject at some point in the future.