Starting a new project? This is the post for you!

During this time of the year, I always wonder: when is the right time to begin new projects? If you are like past me, you sit around and put off the project until your energy moves to the next thing. Or you just start 8 different projects at the same time and burn out by the third week in.

But I’ve learned from my mistakes and I want to share with you some of the ideas I have found helpful.

Now is the best time to start

I found that the perfect time to start a new project is earlier than later. The more I wait, the more self-doubt starts to appear. I find reasons why I should not do that project now, or ever! As I said before, If I wait a lot, my energy finds another more exciting and fresh thing to pay attention to.

Be honest with yourself

To start now is the answer to most of the cases, except when I am swamped with other things! When I am honest with myself, I can follow my gut feeling and I instantly know if adding something new to my life is an option at the moment or not.

But wait, is not all bad news.

If you are too busy with other tasks and find that you would not be able to give some attention to the new project, then write down your idea and a list of things to do to get it going later. That allows you to still “start” now without getting on the way of your current projects.

There is never a perfect time to begin a new project

I always want to tackle a new idea in the perfect moment, to later realize that there is always a reason not to do it or a better time to do it later. It then transforms into a cycle that never ends.

This happens to me with new pieces. I want to have all the knowledge to be “ready” to do the best I can. The truth is that I can write the piece and learn at the same time. As Dale Trumbore said in her book, we can do the best with what you know now.

If I wait to be “ready,” I never get the project started! But no more of that. I just accept that timing will never be perfect, as neither will be my preparation for it or my knowledge for the project. Which relates to the next idea.

Simple is better, just get it done

As Pat Flynn says in many of his coaching calls in Ask Pat 2.0:

If this were simple and effective, how would it look like?

Pat Flynn

That is a powerful statement for me. I don’t know if he was the first one who said it, but it has helped me a lot! I tend to overthink what I do. Getting rid of the expectation of something difficult or too elaborate help me to start.

This is the perfect mindset to start projects because our minds will work hard to make them seem difficult and unattainable, but this question will help take the doubts away and find the path to execution.

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