Yeah that really helps ensure you get some practice in. I really wasn't feeling it today but I picked up my pen and some paper and just started practicing really simple perspectives. Nothing detailed, just the shapes behind the body relative to perspective. Isn't requiring much brain power or attention, and I'm still noticing that I get it.
When I started to learn to draw I definitely dived into things and got ahead of myself, that absolutely resulted in me burning out fast because everything was just shit and I clearly had little idea of what I was doing. The moment I started to relax and do these types of exercises, I saw that I was improving and enjoying it more.
But I still have these days where procrastination tries to seep through and stop me. It's so hard to escape that sometimes, like you said too: you feed yourself those excuses and accept them. To see that you're doing that, and then breaking from it, is definitely a good thing.
What resources have you been using to learn? Figure Drawing Design and Invention by Michael Hampton has been one of the best I've found so far.