Summary of not-so-new scholarship, but perhaps worth a look if you are curious about the psychology of motivation and procrastination.

If I were to ask [you] to describe the practice regiments of world-class musicians, you’d probably envision a shut-in artist who plays all day long and then tucks in their instrument at night. Amazingly though, research by Anders Ericsson that examined the practice sessions of elite violinists clearly showed that the best performers were not spending more time on the violin, but rather were being more productive during their practice sessions. Better yet, the most elite players were getting more sleep on average than everyone else! How is that possible?–The Psychology of Getting More Done In Less Time | Entrepreneur.com.