School success is important, but it isn't everything. Learning, in comparison, is extremely important. While your grades are necessary for graduation, getting a degree, or obtaining admission to certain schools at the next level -- you won't really be good at your job or career if you haven't focused on learning and mastering your "craft". You can do both, but, if you are interested in a career in a certain field, don't be the guy who excels at the "school grades game" and really doesn't have the skills needed to do useful work.
Learning, also, is a lifetime commitment. You need to keep improving your "game" all the time. Imagine going to a surgeon who hasn't learned new techniques. How about a tax accountant who is a few years out of date on tax law? How about anyone who refuses to use the Internet, YouTube, or AI? If you are really interested in your career, the opportunity to learn new things should be a benefit rather than a burden. You should want to put some extra time into learning because it is at least as interesting as your hobbies -- or maybe you are in the wrong job and need to look for something you care about.
If you are taking some required classes, try to find a connection between your interests and every class. If you work at it, you can probably find some relevance to your career, hobbies, or friendships for almost every course. Think positively in this regard. If you can't think of anything, let AI do some brainstorming for you. Finding relevance can be a huge motivator to do the work. Take Calculus, for example. Most of you won't use Calculus directly, but being comfortable with concepts of modeling, functions, and change in values over time are useful in almost every professional field.
When you are in school or college, do your best but don't consider perfection or having the best grades the measure of your worth as a person. Do your best, but don't get caught up in comparing yourself to others or trying to be perfect. Real learning involves some trial and error. Work hard, but don't over-stress. Life is too short to stress out for, say, 12 to 20 years of your young life waiting until you have graduated to enjoy living.
Most importantly, you must tell yourself that you can be successful. Stop telling yourself that you can't succeed, can't learn X (Math?), or can't do it!
Second, you need to work harder -- sorry!!! For starters, just work about 15 minutes extra per day per subject in middle and high school. Work 30 minutes extra per day per subject in college. You can move from drudgery to insight by doing this. 98% of your fellow students won't do this -- so your grades will be higher than at least 90% of your fellow students.
(If you don't do anything except the first two "techniques" above, you will see an immediate benefit that may put you back on track.)
Third, handle peer pressure. Peer pressure on boys/men is most often in the negative direction. Sorry to say this, but it's true. So, be prepared for this and decide, in advance, to not be a victim of pressure by "friends" to be and do less than you are capable of in order to be "cool". This is a huge problem if you are into athletics or hang around the party scene. Find a friend or two who also need to succeed and who have good study habits. Set up accountability sessions and, possibly, study sessions. Find people slightly above your own knowledge or IQ level who also need to work hard for their grades.
Fourth, listen to your teachers when they are talking -- and actually take notes on what they are saying. In high school, teachers are often giving you the answers to test questions. They are almost always telling you what your assignment needs to contain. Why wouldn't you listen? Peer pressure to seem cool?
Fifth, take notes on things you don't know -- not on everything the teacher says. Do take notes, however, even if it isn't cool. Think about what you are writing while you are taking notes. You can take a lot fewer notes if you have already read the material. Also, taking a photo of the board with your smartphone isn't the same as taking notes -- so do both if you are taking snapshots.
Six, stay slightly ahead of the lessons. If you haven't read the material or done the homework before a class or lecture, you will be making your work twice to three times as hard. I can't tell you how many times I hadn't read the lesson and, basically, only got 20% of what I could have from the lessons. The emotional anxiety of constantly being behind in your lessons steals joy from your life. Being ahead makes you seem and become smarter than almost everyone.
Seven, ask for help. Teachers and professors love to "coach" if the student has prepared and tried it on their own first. Ask your smarter or harder-working friends. Don't get your advice from someone who is clueless or doesn't have your best interests in mind. Don't be a slacker and expect to get the full level of help from your coaches, however. Think of it as similar to a basketball player asking their coach for more playing time when they haven't put the work in to stay in shape or develop basic skills.
Motivation of having a career plan: If you find it hard to get yourself going, you may be lacking in purpose. It is hard to do hard work for months and years when you don't have a passion for something that the work is preparing you for. Unlike even the simplest of starter jobs, educators don't even give you a paycheck that will allow you to buy stuff, take your girl out on a date, put gas in your car, etc. You are going to have to connect the coursework to your future career if you are going to stay motivated to learn. Try going to https://youngmenslives.com/careers to work on your career goals if you are lacking in motivation while in school.
Take courses that you will learn from -- not just ones that will increase your GPA. Eventually, you will be smarter as a result and the grades will come naturally. When you become a professional, the knowledge gained by doing this will make you much more effective and successful.
Try to really understand the material -- not just get a good grade. See how it can be applied. Test "what if". Play with various cases and limits to see what happens. Ask how it might apply to a situation or problem in the career you are interested in. This is especially important with basic required courses that form the foundation for advanced courses in the same subject. I graduated with some high grades in certain subjects because I knew how to take tests and turned in all of my work. I didn't really understand the material, however, and found myself unable to complete project work in the "real world" after graduation!!!
Internships: If you have an opportunity to do so during college, try to become an intern or coop in your career area of choice. You may even have the opportunity to work in your field during the Summer or evenings as a high schooler.
If you do this, you will start to figure out if you even like this work at all -- before you dedicate X more years and $$$ to your education in this area.
You will also gain experience you can include in your resume.
You will have the opportunity to make contacts who can help you with references or, even, offer you a good job once you graduate.
Being interested in chemistry and healthcare, one of my friends in high school was able to land a simple job in a pharmacy during high school -- so you don't even have to wait until you are in college.
Career and Interests: You can find careers that are at the intersection of your talents, your interests, and what someone will pay you for -- if you think about it creatively and are willing to consider them "starter" opportunities.
Program of Study: "Google" this if you don't know what I am talking about. If you look at the list of courses in your Major and are interested in most of them, you are on the right track. If most of the courses look horrible to you, you should try to find another major or another College.
Return on Investment: Try to go to an economical undergraduate college unless your parents just have so much money they don't know what to do with it. Exceptions would be going to Harvard, Stanford, Yale or MIT -- and that's the whole list. Make a deal with your parents to pay for your grad school instead of paying big bucks for undergrad. Don't underestimate the State schools and try to get in-State tuition and scholarship programs if possible. If you have to be self-sufficient after graduation, make sure you are getting a degree in something that will lead to good employment.
Loans and debt: If you aren't getting college money from your parents, use student loans -- but live frugally and go to an economical college.
Major and "Undeclared Major": If you don't have any idea what your career interests are, going to college is very expensive and a lot of hard work. I'm not necessarily suggesting that you take a year off to discover yourself, but I am suggesting that you at least read the Careers article on this website before you spend $200K and five years of your life on something you don't care about. If you do take a year off to discover yourself and your parents pay for you to take a massive vacation traveling to some place like Europe, just be aware that an endless vacation isn't a reality for most of us. If you are taking a year off from college, you would be better served to get a part time jobs in areas you might be interested in for a career. (Take a month in Europe first, of course, if someone else is paying for it!)
You can be successful in school if you want to, but you are probably going to have to work harder. You don't have to be perfect or the best to be very successful. Let learning and your career success, not perfect grades, be the driver.
Don't get caught up in status-conscious choices that will leave you pressured with huge student loans for years.
Let your career interest drive you education -- not someone else's ideas of where you should go to college or whether they have a great football team. You need to graduate from high school and get an additional degree or equivalent in a skill area, but you don't have to go to a four year college to have a very successful career. You can almost always go back to school to get more education when you are ready.
Keep learning! Apply the above-mentioned tactics and strategies after you move into your career as well. You will be amazed by how fast you move ahead,how much more fun your job is, and how much more you can contribute!