Some part of my reply got lost in translation. Please disregard "The first one is basically". And another one I like to use is this one: >"It's so much harder

Some part of my reply got lost in translation. Please disregard "The first one is basically". And another one I like to use is this one: >"It's so much harder to start than it is to stop." In other words, it takes a lot of effort to get a large ball moving, but once its moving its hard to stop the momentum. What this means is that once you get going you'll often find it easier than you thought it would be. Besides that, there is, rationally speaking, basically no excuse for not starting early. Either you finish earlier which is great, or you find out that the task is significantly harder than you expected which is also great because this means that you have more time to fix it. Finally, please keep in mind that "all advice can only be a product of the man who gives it." In this case, a European PhD student in econometrics, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Feel free to add your own mantras or advice of course.