I think you’re spiraling and creating doomsday scenarios.

First of all, straight As are not a requirement for a happy and successful life. Marks below A are not a failure. Even failing a class doesn’t make you a failure. Successful people fail all the time and pick themselves up. Demanding perfection from yourself is super unrealistic and unhealthy. You don’t have to be perfect.

You mentioned this is a sudden change. Ok, what changed? New school? New classes? Any health issues, trouble sleeping? Depression or anxiety?

Hard to tell how old you are, but guessing you’re in high school or college… or maybe you just made the leap from HS to college. If you’re in high school, please speak to your parents and ask to talk to your school’s guidance counselor. If you’re in college, you can still speak to your parents if you feel comfortable (I know I would’ve never), but your school should have both academic and psychological counseling services. I went to competitive schools start in HS and can remember feeling like school and grades were the end all be all. Trust me, they’re not. I have plenty of friends who made lackluster grades and went on to have successful careers. (And on the flip side, my friends who were giving themselves ulcers going for that 4.0 now have jobs they by and large dislike that also give them ulcers…) And we live in a society/world that tells us we are only as valuable as we are productive and successful. Trust me, this isn’t true.

Motivation can be impacted by some of the mental health issues you seem to be experiencing, like anxiety and depression. So please be sure to talk to someone!

Outside of that, understanding how you function and learn best is important (e.g., I hate lectures, I like learning by doing). I thrive off of routine and have found that if I have a solid routine, I don’t need to rely on motivation as much to accomplish my goals. Also a big fan of mini-goals as check-in points along the way to a larger goal.