What's your advice on sticking to taking breaks when you should and making that a new habit, instead of procrastinating? (I feel like you've answered this before and I've probably missed it. Sorry if this is so.)
I think the most pertinent thing here is to make sure your breaks are simply more enjoyable than procrastinating.
I'd usually set myself a target - so like, perhaps watch a lecture, or spend half an hour summarising notes, or an hour working on an essay. For me, time constraints work(ed) better than quantity constraints, if that makes sense. Saying something like "I'll work until I get this introduction done" is to me when you become most vulnerable to procrastination; you could, theoretically, be working on that introduction for
hours. Until you finish the introduction, you don't feel like you deserve a break or whatever, but obviously you can't keep concentration levels high that entire time. As a result, you (well, I) tend to start doing other things - checking Facebook, thinking about other shit. Just generally not being productive.
By setting time limits, on the other hand, I knew when the break was coming - and that motivated me to be more productive in the time I had remaining.
When the break came, I tried to do something I genuinely enjoyed. So like, not just scrolling through social media. Usually this involved walking to go and get coffee.
In general, I've been pretty cognisant of my marks and the like. If I'm not doing anything of note, I feel like I should be, so my go to was usually to read the essay one more time, or do one more reading etc. Having these time constraints really helped, though, with both productivity
and making sure I wasn't working
too hard.
Not 100% if that answered your question or not, but I hope so!