Why is it that I can't focus on my studying and straightening my life like I do with my hobbies and interests?

You said you go to church so I'm thinking you could be a Christian. What's important is to know God and what He wants for your life. This takes church, daily prayer, daily Bible reading. Christianity is about faith for sure, a trust, but with love too. This takes a maturity. This isn't just a head thing, a knowing, but also a heart thing -- a willingness to love and commit to God eternally. The most important factors I'm learning are faith, love, peace, hope, friendliness, caring, giving. and meekness, plus obedience. God is our Creator, all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal, holy, love. Mostly, God is love and He wants us to be love too and become like Jesus Christ, which takes obedience and faith that He can help us succeed to do His will. Our will needs to be yielded to His will. We need to accept Jesus into our life as our Lord and Savior forever to receive God's blessing and forgiveness plus go to heaven. Having Jesus in your life means changing your life to accept His leadership -- thus He is your Lord, and not just your Savior. He wants to change us to be more like Him. The more we love God, the more we can commit and be obedient. Spiritual maturity comes as we realize that life isn't all about us. Most important is loving and helping God and others. I'm Lutheran and I like the Baptist churches too. Ways to stay on the project are going to church, reading the Bible daily, and daily prayer as needed. I've got a Life Application Study Bible, which has lots of footnotes to help explain what the Bible verses can mean for us today. The New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible is modern language and easy to read. Some churches do a weekly Bible study group and these can be a good way to get committed to read the Bible often and keep going. Let God guide you. God bless.