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[Vector]

That is why those consumerist whor bitc ladies without a single rational thought in their heads manage to claw out a better GPA than a bright, yet unmotivated geek.

Excuse me?

[Angle]

@FFS: You didn't hijack my thread, and your post was actually relatively helpful, I just didn't understand it at the time.

@HMH: That sounds like really good advice, though you might not want to use such language, even in strikethrough. As for finding motivation, well, that's really difficult. I've been working at that for a long time now, and haven't had much success.

@Urist: I've been doing all the homework before now, and I still have terrible grades. What I really need is to do the homework and study, and that's just too much for me.

[Imp]

Angle, have you ever had a tutor?  Specifically, I mean someone who worked with you one on one for a significant period of time, a person who also really understood the subject (more about it than what your class itself teaches) and who actually really liked the subject?

[Angle]

Noooooo, never had anything like that. Most of my teachers have been either overworked, incompetent, uninterested, or some combination of those. I've had a few who both knew and cared, but they never worked anything close to one on one.

[Imp]

Teachers are rarely tutors.  Similar but different, tutors usually work one on one, and there's actually a LOT of other differences.  For one, maybe read up a little on tutors.... I'm serious by the way. Check this out -

A basic explanation of what a tutor is:
http://www.anokaramsey.edu/en/resources/Success/TutoringSrvcs/becometutor/TutorTraining/M1-Role.aspx

these are links -for- tutors, to help them understand their job and how it's different from a teacher's job:

http://www.anokaramsey.edu/en/resources/Success/TutoringSrvcs/becometutor/TutorTraining/M2-EffectiveTutor.aspx
http://voices.yahoo.com/5-key-differences-between-tutoring-teaching-205414.html?cat=4

These is a link for parents, to help them understand 'why consider a tutor':

http://www.tutoringupgrades.com/Teacher-or-Tutor.html

So a tutor is a person who would work directly and specifically with you, would discuss your classwork and your subjects, the material you are responsible for.  A tutor would talk with you enough to assess your knowledge level, your understanding level, and help talk you though any gaps or problems.  Tutors commonly review homework with their students, discuss strengths and weaknesses, and help you improve in a lot of ways -

But tutors also can be incredibly motivating.  The teacher's doing a job and that job's to work with all of their students and get most of them up to a reasonable competency level - not to help any exceptionals exceed further (that's a dream, but not even a goal), and not, sadly, expected to succeed with every student (again, a dream - but not actually a goal, and even when it 'is' a goal... the resources are lacking to make that possible).

Tutors, on the other hand, are doing a job - and that job is to work specifically with you.  And to take you 'upwards' in terms of mastery of the subjects involved - which can be remedial or exceptional.  You are the tutor's job, your understanding, your learning style, your confidence, your improvement.  It's super different than 'normal classroom education'.
You have a guidance councilor, yes?  One of the first steps if you'd like to explore seeking a tutor further might be to make an appointment with that person (before or after you involve your parents or guardians in the idea) and discuss with them how to find (and afford... there are some that charge, some that don't) a tutor in the subject(s) that you need help with.

[HmH]

Excuse me?

Spoiler: Off-topic apology (click to show/hide)

There's no deep meaning in this; just some exceptionally bad judgment on my part. I'm afraid I have retained a certain amount of hostility towards consumerist culture in general, and so allowed that hostility to muddle my understanding of what is acceptable on this forum.

The insults were not oriented towards those of the fair gender implicitly; if I were to make the same mistake again, only in reference to male consumerists, I believe I would use equally offensive terms.

UPD: There, I changed the insult to a more gender-neutral version as a way of apology. Feel free to keep the old version for the sake of posterity.

[Angle]

Well, I'm actually in college right now. I could probably acquire tutoring one way or another, though. I'll look into it.

[Tiruin]

Hiya Angle!

Tiny query: Do you think the problem is in your analysis? As in, how you see the [WORK_TO_BE_DONE] and its value to yourself?

Edit: *college-high-five*

[Angle]

@Naxza: Indeed, I'll try that. It does sound like it'd help, and I've never really done anything like that. My attitude has always kind of been "School is a place of Pain and Suffering, to be escaped as soon as possible", so maybe I should give that kind of thing a try.

@Tiruin: Yeah, that probably is part of the problem. I've been mildly depressed lately, and have been having a hard time really caring about anything. It's probably just because I'm not getting out enough.

*Returns High-five*

[Vector]

Excuse me?

Spoiler: Off-topic apology (click to show/hide)

There's no deep meaning in this; just some exceptionally bad judgment on my part. I'm afraid I have retained a certain amount of hostility towards consumerist culture in general, and so allowed that hostility to muddle my understanding of what is acceptable on this forum.

The insults were not oriented towards those of the fair gender implicitly; if I were to make the same mistake again, only in reference to male consumerists, I believe I would use equally offensive terms.

UPD: There, I changed the insult to a more gender-neutral version as a way of apology. Feel free to keep the old version for the sake of posterity.

[Jelle]

This thread still open to advise? If so here's me chiming in to give my insight as a rather chronic procastinator.

Don't try to reason yourself into getting to work. Why? Because many times procastinating is a very natural course of action. Evolution made sure our thought processes are so as to avoid any unnecesary work in order to maximize survival chance. This is done through a reward based system of conditioning; when our actions are rewarded in some substantial way we learn that this work is meaningful, and when it is unrewarded it is pointless and best avoided. Problem with this is it only really works with relative immediate gain, so long term benefits are trickier. Furthermore many things in the construct we made called society are inherently pointless, exercises in futility. Education especially, there many things you learn and practice you may never need. That homework you are tasked to make may never have any substantial reward, apart from say a pat on the back or some other form of commendation that really doesn't mean much.

But enough rambling, it's got to get done so here's my advice. Best way to motivate yourself is to trick your brain into thinking your homework is a meaningful task (and if it really is all the better) with an immediate reward. Say you play DF (just as practical example), then make an effort if you have some homework to be done to not play at all. Only reward yourself after making an effort to get the work then. You can start slow at first, short interval of work followed by a reward. If it works you'll find yourself gradually able to get more work done at once. Just remember the reward always comes after.

Come to think of it I'd argue the over saturation of reward stimuli is part of the procastination problem, but I'm rambling again.

Anyway second is get a fellow student (someone who also procastinates is ideal) and make an effort to work together and motivate one another. Or get a group of students, the more the better in this case. Social pressure is a powerful thing, one that can defy what seems reasonable, it can help you get something done that seems pointless. Check up on one another to make sure you're doing the work you're assigned, and as a plus you can help one another with the work itself when needed.

Like HmH (not so tactfully  ) put it get involved in the rat race. I'll be first to criticize that little part of the human condition at the root of consumerism, but you got to do what you got to do to be a functioning member of society! Just you know, keep in mind the big picture.

[Tiruin]

...I really sincerely and truly doubt procrastinating is natural. Procrastinating didn't happen to me in the past 15 years, and I've only felt it when I entered college..

Meaning: I really believe its in the outlook one has on life and 'what to do' with it, what one values and their viewpoint or perspective on things, and NOT bloody evolution. 

Edit: I've to also go against your statement, Jelle. Staying with other procrastinators doesn't help at all if you're trying to organize yourself more [...and now I go against me going against yours, I didn't read the oncoming sentence. Motivating each other is a GOOD thing ]. Given that there is no time management (we all have an equal # of seconds each), its all in the self-management.

[Angle]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think it's helping me already.

[Imp]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think it's helping me already.

I'm really glad to hear this!  Keep us posted if you want to.  Good luck in these adventures!

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I suggest getting out. Physically moving yourself to do something else somewhere else. Go for a run. Be gone at least half an hour. Turn your phone OFF off and don't touch it. Think about nothing, or if you can't, think about your homework project. Explain it to yourself. Give yourself the lecture you would need to give to tell someone else how to do the project.

When you return, sit down somewhere other than your computer. Get some paper, again a physical object. Write out all the pieces you need for this project. Do you need to do research? If so, what pieces of information do you need to find? What are some likely sources?

Come back to your computer. Do not open your email. Do not turn on your phone. Do not open a game. Fire up your word processor and  open the file - or notebook page - that has the project description in it. Review the description and make sure you're on the right track - it sucks to do a bunch of work you didn't need to.

Type up an outline of what your homework will look like. If you're answering a set of questions, type up those questions. If you're writing a paper, type up your paper's structure. Most papers need some kind of thesis, body, and conclusion. Some styles are more formal. Get the outline down and think about how you're approaching this.

Are you starting with your conclusion and trying to support it? Are you casting a wide net and gathering information to come to a conclusion? The latter is the better way to do it, but I confess I've done the former also. It's easy but it screws you up, and it's not as valuable.

Are you answering questions? Just go out there and get 'em! Finding a legitimate source is probably the hardest part. You may not be able to reference Wikipedia (although at least one study showed that Wikipedia had fewer errors than other print encyclopedias), but you can use the sources Wikipedia lists at the bottom of the page!

You might want to do the parts of your project that are easiest first. Do the fun stuff. Get something done, anything, and it makes the whole thing less imposing. That's what outlining it does, too. Your brain can encompass the project completely and there's less emotionally intimidating about it - certainly intellectually intimidating! But at least there isn't the dread of starting a project of unknown dimensions.

Finally, get something done at least, something finished. Turning in bad work is better than turning in nothing (in school anyway). Try to set aside time to review and edit it with fresh eyes before printing it or emailing it to turn it in. You'd be surprised some of the really crazy mistakes I've made in papers - whole paragraphs duplicated and moved around, obvious tpyos, etc.