Deadlines and My Friend Procrastination

As readers may recall from my previous posts, I am in the process of applying to low-residency MFA programs for the summer semester. As part of the application process, I'm required to submit 25 pages of my own creative work. 

I started the process in December and with an application deadline of mid-February, I thought "oh good, plenty of time!". I mean, it's just 25 pages and I've already written a significant amount so how hard could it be?

Apparently very hard. Here's my timeline:

Late December:     10 pages completed 

Early January:        Took a break to work on my critical essay (4 pages) and personal essay       
                               (3 pages)

Mid January:           Reviewed first 10 pages. Something didn't feel right. Mauled over story    
                                for a few more days

Late January:          Finished another 10 pages (pretty much pulling teeth) but couldn't
                                muster energy to complete another 5 pages (still wasn't 100% about the 
                                story

Early February:       Ack! Scrapped the first twenty pages. Started from scratch. 
                                Scramble to write 25 pages of something that "feels right"
                       
5 days before          Finish twenty five pages.
deadline:                 Review, Review, Review!

1 day before            Do final edits on both essays and 25 pages
deadline:                 

Deadline day:          Final edits UP TO THE LAST MINUTE!

It seemed fitting that this chart popped up the day after I submitted.

How's your writing process? Similar? Totally Different? Tips to prevent procrastination?