How can I stop procrastinating and start working on projects earlier than the night before ?

Know that this project is only for you. We externalise things, which creates added pressure and makes approaching the work a "scary" prospect. We think our parents will be disappointed if we do badly, or our professors, or our friends. However, that pressure comes from their desire to see YOU do well. The project is designed to better you as a person, not any of these other people. Approach it knowing that you are improving as a person in doing so, and following a path that you have chosen for yourself. Your long-term prospect for a high quality life improves with this, having improved confidence knowing that you're doing well. Starting the night before gives you the best opportunity to really give this your best shot, for YOU! The pressure is taken off and you're given the freedom to succeed.

In order to stop procrastinating, you should follow three steps: 1) Eliminate any distractions that make you procrastinate and hinder you from completing a project. For example, if you procrastinate by surfing on the intenet, you can ask your roomate/family to change the internet password until you're done. 2) You should split the projects on easy-to-complete parts, so that you don't have as much hard stuff in your plate. You can also put breaks between working on those parts. 3) You should do the easiest or most fun parts first and gradually move to more difficult ones, so that you are better prepared for the hard ones and don't freak out when you have to face them.

I find that I often procrastinate if the project feels huge, or I feel as if I'll do a bad job on it. Either way, try to remember that the project won't make or break you. Don't give it too much weight! Break it up piece by piece. You also have to kind of psych yourself up. Even if it's something silly like giving yourself compliments, "omg I'm a boss I'm working so hard on this" or wearing a study headband or something lol. This makes it more fun- like you're actually accomplishing stuff!

You can always think of the long run. Consider your future goals and aspirations and how the grades will get you there. The earlier you start, the more time you get which means you wont rush the project, which ensures that you complete the work to your full potential.

I find that when I am procrastinating on a project, to break the project down into little parts, and write a list of what needs to be done. Then, you don't feel like you are working on the whole (sometimes daunting) project, but rather just little parts of it. And then just try to check one thing of the list each night for a couple nights ahead of when the project is due.

It's difficult to focus sometimes, especially if it's something we don't really want to do. Start by making a list of the things you need to do for the project. Each time you tick one off, give yourself a short break, such as 30 minutes browsing social media, watching an episode of your current favourite TV show, or go out a grab a meal out of the house. Then get back to business and continue with the next task.

List of the to-do list for the day and mark you priorities, this way we can always avoid missing priority work

The best way to go about this is to break the project up into multiple small tasks and commit to fulfill these tasks by a soecific timeline.

Thinking of your projects or any work you are about to do as something that is important. Don't just let this hang in the back of your head. Remind yourself that everyday, that you need to focus on what's important. Finishing work is more important and it may take awhile for you to put this in front of all your other planned schedules, but it's better to finish a much needed work than to flip it on the last day.

A strategy I have found to avoid procrastination is to make a timetable. For example, if you had two weeks to read a book, you may think, "that is plenty of time!" and find yourself up late on spark notes the night before it is due. However, if you make a timetable, it will keep you more organized. For example, mark on your calendar that you should be done with 1/4 of the book by certain day, then 2/4, then 3/4, then completed by the due date. Making sure you're on schedule helps you from underestimating the amount of work you have to do, and keeps you motivated, while not being stressed too much at once.