Keep a list of your assignments, and check them off as you finish them. This can give you a sense of accomplishment that can motivate you to keep going.
Make it the rule that you work for a certain amount of time, or until a certain amount of work has been accomplished. Afterward, you can hang out. Stick to this schedule. Try this out and see if it works. If you’re too distracted by having friends around, make a date to hang out after homework instead.
Make sure you keep the competition to yourself. Competing with your friends isn’t fun, especially over homework assignments and grades.
Learning something that will probably help with future assignments, even if you don’t know what they are yet. Proving to your teacher that you understand the homework so that they don’t keep assigning it over and over. Improving your GPA. Getting a good grade.
Try not to reward yourself with food, as that can lead to snacking when you aren’t really hungry.
For instance, tell yourself that if you finish your first assignment in 20 minutes, you can go on your phone for 5 minutes.
Make sure you stand up and do something when it’s your break, or you won’t get your wiggles out. Set a timer on your phone or use a kitchen timer to let yourself know when it’s time to switch tasks.
If you don’t have control over the subject, try to find connections between the topic and something you care about. Find aspects of the subject that interest you. For instance, if you have to study History but you care the most about fashion, investigate the styles of the times and places you are studying. Learn how political and economical developments changed the way people dressed.
You can find playlists on Spotify and YouTube that are made for studying and doing homework.
When you’re struggling to focus, sign out of your email and all social media so you don’t check them as a reflex.
If you have many textbooks and worksheets, stack them and put them to the side. Get things like pencils, erasers, calculators, rulers, and paper.
Having a planner will make it less tempting to procrastinate, as long as you have broken up your studying into manageable chunks. Your planner can be paper, or you can get one on your phone. Just make sure it has space for task lists as well as events. Once you have completed a task, cross it off or put a check next to it. Seeing that you’re getting your work done will make you feel better, which in turn will motivate you to keep up the good work. Don’t put more than you can do in one day on a list! Split up your week’s work so that every day has a manageable amount.
If you have a job or extracurricular activities that change your daily schedule, determine a weekly schedule that you stick to as much as possible.
Sometimes just explaining what you have to do will help you understand it better. Talking to another person is a great way to brainstorm ideas. They may ask you questions or provide comments that can help you organize your ideas. Other times, the person you are talking to will notice something about the prompt that you overlooked.
