Executive dysfunction or laziness?

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All my life I've performed very well in school with little or no work. Now I'm in university and I'm getting unexpectedly low grades. Sometimes I know I should be studying, I want to study, I like the subject even, but I just feel like I have no energy, or I end up doing something else for "just five more minutes" until it's too late to study anyway. I am the same way with house chores, diy projects, taking showers...
When I do get around to do something, then I can go on for countless hours. I'm on lesson break to prepare some exams and I end up studying very intensely one day, then slacking off for two, then studying like crazy for one...
I've tried making schedules, having a fixed routine, but I just end up ignoring them.
I'm feeling very disappointed, anxious and guilty, but the more guilty I feel the less motivated I am to do what I have to do.

How do I know if my problems with procrastination, distractibility, lack of motivation, are due to executive dysfunction or if I'm just lazy?
How do I get help if I've always excelled academically?

You have had a cultural shock, typical of gifted children. The school is boring and you´re doing well, - so why bother?
Then comes university with totally different demands, - and you´re in a jam.
Your profile doesn´t say anything about you having aspergers or not, but I suppose, there is a natural reason as to why you started in here.
There must be some service for aspies somewhere at your university.
Have a talk with them and tell them about your problems. I am sure, they will be willing to help you by some useful strategies or a group.

I had the exact same problem in college. I think it's just harder for us, to tear ourselves away from things we're interested in, and force ourselves to focus on things we don't care about.

Our brains want to fixate on the thing that interests us – to the point where we don't sleep, and we ignore everything else. It's like a powerful drug to us, and most people don't feel this level of addiction.

So I don't think "lazy" is quite the right term. It's more like if you put a heroin addict in a room with a needle, it's much, much harder for them to resist it, than it would be for a non-addict. And our 'needle' is our own brain, because we're addicted to our thoughts and interests.

Still, it's our job to try to resist it, just like an addict has to try to overcome their addiction. Otherwise we become completely dysfunctional, and our lives will fall apart.

I haven´t been lazy (only at public school), but I have always found it difficult to change focus from one activity to the next, and that´s what you have to do as a student. I have had [and have) difficulty just getting started.

No idea but I can have the same problem.

I see an occupational therapist, and she suggests things like setting a timer for 5 minutes, and commit to working for 5 minutes, then I can do something else, and usually she finds if someone can get working they will keep working.

The problem is, I can't even GET working. Not even just to promise five minutes.

Seeing as you've performed well all your life in education, then it must mean that you either have no interest or you're procrastinating too much.

I'm the opposite in that I've struggled all my life in education.

So I'm going with laziness.

I have this problem too, so if anyone has any effective tips for dealing with it, please do post them...

I also found that high school and college required completely different skills. So high school did not prepare me for the high level of independence and self-motivation that is expected in college.

It could be you're overwhelmed and confused by the massive lifestyle change, and you've never learned the skills to deal with this situation. Other people adapt to change more easily, but autistics don't just automatically know how to acquire a whole different set of life skills that they've never practiced before.

OOOOOH I have this same problem here!!
I'm doing two majors and that's a lot of work, but I can't make myself study! I'm highly gifted and I get good grades even when studying everything in the last day, but I hate the fact that if I studied regularly and did all the work I would be one of the best students! The way I do it seems like I'm wasting my potential... But I can't do it differently. I actually made a post asking help about it.
I have thought this through and those are the reasons I found:
1 - I'm very anxious. Having to do a task makes me anxious and I avoid it. Even if I do it I perform a lot worse because of anxiety, and anxiety gets worse when exams are coming.
2 - I can't NOT do what I'm obssessed about doing. Just like someone used a metaphor of heroine, I'm addicted to something and can't stop thinking about it to study.
3 - I can't organize myself to do everything I have to. And this fact makes me even more anxious (reason 1) when deadlines are coming!
3 - Even if I'm not anxious or obssessed it feels like I can't make me do a task. I am not sure why, but certainly not laziness.
Those may be your reasons too... I also need help cause this situation is desperating.