Discussion: Procrastination! How Do You Keep Yourself Motivated?

So...this is my very first self-professed "discussion" post on my blog. I have done a few discussion-type posts previously, but I'm going to try to do them more regularly starting now. :)

For my first big discussion post, I'm going to go with a topic that I'm sure most of us can relate to:

PROCRASTINATION.

I don't think anyone can really say that they've never procrastinated before, and I guarantee there have been times where you've put things off until the last minute. I even thought about procrastinating with this post...oh, the irony.

Since we've all procrastinated once...maybe twice...or maybe even many, many times (but who's counting really :P), I was wondering what everyone else does to keep themselves from procrastinating. 

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Personally, I'm pretty bad at not procrastinating.

I try to do things early, but sometimes I feel like I need the pressure of the deadline to get motivated enough to finish something. I can motivate myself better when I plan though, and I like to make to-do lists so that I have a reminder of what I need to do. Sometimes, I still manage to procrastinate though, or I just make myself feel really pressured because of all of the things I have to do.

I think the biggest problem that I have with procrastinating is that my school deadlines often end up really close together, so even if I try to get ahead on one of the assignments, the ones closely following the first quickly catch up to me! I also just seem automatically start to procrastinate whenever I have something I need to do right away...technically, I'm procrastinating right now as I write this because I should be reading Frankenstein for one of my classes, but instead I'm writing this post.

Sometimes, I even find it hard to determine what's procrastinating and what's just a hobby, or necessity. There are certain situations where I really do wonder, like these ones:

• If I have a book to read for class, but I get hungry and need a break from reading...does cooking myself dinner become procrastination itself? 
• If I'm getting really frustrated while writing an essay, is taking a bath or having a snack also procrastinating? 
• Are these rhetorical questions yet another way for me to procrastinate? 
• Am I finding Frankenstein so boring that I just keep asking myself questions? 

That last one I will answer....it's yes. Fingers crossed it picks up soon. :P

I find that when I'm doing work, my brain works MUCH better if I do take breaks, so I don't really consider those procrastination...that's why I usually fill my study or essay-writing breaks with things like food and bathing...they're essential, so I don't feel guilty about using them for breaks, and I'm fulfilling the things I need to do every day for survival and comfort. It's a win-win!

This discussion is getting super ramble-y, and I've probably told you all way too much about myself, so I'm gonna end it there!

Any fellow procrastinators out there?

Do you have any good tips to get motivated and NOT procrastinate?

Also, just because I posed that weird rhetorical question and made myself super curious...do you consider taking breaks while doing a big task or project to be procrastinating, or do you think the breaks make you work better?