If your teen has "bad" grades (less than 10/11 for the demanding ones), is it really because they’re not working hard enough?

So how do you get them to work more? Is it because the subjects bore them, because they’re disorganized, using the wrong methods, or because their goals are just for show?

Let’s take things in logical order, starting with what we can actually observe.

They don’t organize themselves because organization only starts making sense when you actually work. When you realize you’re spending hours for mediocre results, you naturally start looking for ways to optimize—and the first thing you try to optimize is your organization.

Same goes for methodology. You can be organized, you can have the will to work, but if you’re still inefficient and struggling to retain information, at some point, you start questioning your methods. And again, you try to optimize them.

And then, two scenarios: either optimizing organization and methodology brings results, or it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t, the problem lies in the goal. It’s not clear enough to act as a real driver.

The goal is the first step. And yet, it’s always dismissed as secondary.

But ignoring it doesn’t work.

My stance, confirmed over the past 20-30 years, is simple: when you know what you want, you at least do the bare minimum in class and daily life to reach it. Or, you spend time on activities directly linked to it.

Let’s keep it simple: think of your last personal goal that truly motivated you. Maybe organizing your vacation, planning your birthday, or training for the Marathon des Sables? You put in the time, the effort, and you enjoyed it, didn’t you?

A teen who wants to be a developer codes in their free time. A future journalist reads, writes, runs a blog. They create content.

There’s a logical structure to all this, and it’s driven by economics. Let’s not kid ourselves—we’re all lazy at heart.

Without motivation or obligation, we do nothing.

An employee works because they have to pay bills and afford the life they want (oversimplification, but you get the point). A student, on the other hand, can get by doing the bare minimum. Their short-term stakes are non-existent. They can sleep soundly, knowing they’ll be fed tomorrow.

So, logically, they conserve energy for anything that doesn’t directly interest them.

Just like you do at work—whether completely or just for certain tasks.

Therefore, if they have a clear goal but still don’t put in the effort, it’s because that goal is just a façade. It’s based on shallow thinking and disconnected from reality.

The short-term side effects of choosing a career path superficially—based on advice, grades, or personality tests—are real.