When you’re starting something new—like a blog maybe—one of the most difficult parts is getting started. You might plan for months making sure that everything is exactly what you want it to be. You might even plan so much that you never get to the point of actually putting fingers to keyboard—or whatever it is that you need to do to start your project.

There will always be a reason to put off starting but here are a few reasons that you definitely should not put off your dream project.

1. It’s not the right time. It will probably never be the “right” time to start something. Whether you are waiting to get some time off because the launch seems really important or you’re waiting to be done with your vacation so that you can get back to your “regular routine”, something will always come up. Don’t be the person who says that they are starting their diet “tomorrow” then succumbs to the always present evil donuts in your life.

2. I don’t have time to start. This is very similar to the “it’s not the right time” problem. The solution to this one is to listen to your mom or at least my mom when she says, “You make time for the things that are important to you.” I hope anyone reading that read it in a high pitched exasperated voice. My mom, though completely incorrect about an appropriate bedtime being 9 p.m., is one of the most determined people I know. She makes time for everything she wants to do. For example, when she wanted to go back to school she started to get up at 5 a.m.—which probably explains the 9 p.m. bedtime. She then had about two hours before anyone else in the house woke up to bug her about being out of Cheerios. You don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. like my mom but blocking off a set amount of time for yourself where there are no distractions is a great way to make sure that you have the time to do the things that you want to do. You might decide to bring your project with you to work/school and take your lunch-break as a time to get ahead . You could even find a spare few minutes after the world has gone to bed to get some focused time working towards your goals. Remember we all have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyonce and she has managed to become an entrepreneur/mom/superstar.

3. I don’t know where to start. This normally happens to me when I’ve sat down and made some time to do something that I’m excited about and then realize how big a project is. You, like me, might not realize all of the little things that go into a project when you start. Then when you *cough* I *cough* do realize all of the steps it might become overwhelming and you don’t start for fear of starting with the wrong thing. The only solution that has ever worked for me when dealing with this is to choose a place and start there. I like to start with something that I’m fairly confident that I can do well, it doesn’t have to be a big part of the project, just something to start the momentum. If you tell yourself that you are only going to do that one thing and then that you are just going to do the next logical extension of that first step, you can break the project up into smaller parts. If you’ve started the project in the wrong place and need to redo sections later you have still won because if you hadn’t started you wouldn’t be as far as you’ve come and you now know the best way to start next time.

4. It’s not ready yet. Sometimes I wish there were support groups for perfectionists but the cookies wouldn’t be good enough and the coffee wouldn’t have that subtle fruity zing with a chocolatey aftertaste because we used the french press instead of drip and really why bother at that point. Before you begin tackling your perfectionist tendencies you will have to accept that nothing will ever be perfect because perfection is somewhat of a sliding scale. One person’s perfect cup of coffee might be too strong/bitter/sharp/fruity/bland etc. for someone else and that’s not even taking into account the tea drinkers. You’re now reading this thinking, “Please don’t just tell me to get over it”. “Just getting over it” doesn’t work for me either. What does seem to work is making a list of reasonable things that I would like to get done. Once this list is complete you are done you are not allowed to add to the list later, modify the list or put any tasks that don’t have a concrete end point on the list. If you are struggling with the creation of the list please see 3.

If you have any tips for starting new projects please leave them in the comments below.