Do you have a project or a new product in mind but you’re not quite ready to get started on it? Perhaps you’re waiting for a particular resource, or a chunk of free time to work on it. Or perhaps you need some extra money to put your plan into action.
I know because I’ve done this too – waited for the time/situation to be just perfect before getting started.
But then last week I was reading Prince Charming Isnt Coming
: How Women Get Smart About Money by Barbara Stanny. In this book, Stanny talks about how women often wait for a man to look after their finances for them. There is one particular passage that jumped out at me.
“Please note: “Mr. Right” or “Prince Charming” need not be a man, or even a person. Our prince could be an ideal job, an insurance settlement, the lottery jackpot, or just an amorphous “something” – anything that we fantasize will save us financially. To become genuinely smart with money, we must get to the point where we can say with total conviction, I can do it myself.
This passage really grabbed me by the throat and made me realize that there are a number of projects I’ve had on hold because I didn’t have everything perfect. I gave myself a long, hard look and realized I’ve been waiting for my business “Prince Charming”. In this case, my Prince isn’t a man either. Here’s what I’ve been waiting on and what I’m doing about it:
Schedule time
I’ve been waiting for more time to finish writing a book and several ebooks. Well, guess what? The free time is never there. I need to schedule it to make it happen. How did I solve this? I booked several three hour chunks this month. Will it finish all the writing projects I have? No. But it will get me closer to finishing.
Don’t let cash flow stop you
I need some money to implement a couple of my projects and cash flow is tight right now so I’ve been putting them off. Instead of continuing to wait for things to get better, I arranged for some barter with a graphic designer to get one project completed. Then I looked at my accounts receivable and contacted people who owe me money.
Next, I looked out for “low hanging fruit” or ways I can make money quickly to allow me to finance my bigger projects. Finally, I looked for (and found) ways to complete my projects without spending as much money. It won’t be as fancy as I hoped, but it will get to market, which is far better than having a project on the drawing board indefinitely.
Procrastination
There are a couple of things I need to be doing to promote my products and services that I’ve just been putting off. I call it procrastination but really it should be called either perfectionism or fear of success. Either way, I’ve looked it in the eye and started implementation. I’ve created a list and committed to crossing one item off my list each day until it’s done.
If you’re like me, you have some projects that you’ve been putting off until the time is right. I heard a saying: The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The next best time is today.
What are you going to plant today?
Andrea J. Stenberg
