Let’s say you want to start a new business and in 3 months you want to be up and running. You’ve been meaning to write a business plan. Months ago, you found a one pager online that is specific to the business you want to start and after reviewing it you figure you can knock it out in a couple of hours max. You are determined to finally get this project started!

Then the week goes crazy. Your toddler has the flu, which you then catch, you spend the first 5 days dealing with vomit, laundry, rearranging your schedule and generally feeling like crap and the last thing you are ready to face is creating a business plan. Two quiet hours to concentrate and be creative are two hours you just don’t have. So you put it off, but it bothers you. You think about it everyday. You feel frustrated. Your dream feels further away rather than closer.

I see this scenario all the time. Of course the details change but it adds up to the same thing. Things didn’t go according to plan, your week went sideways, so you didn’t start because you knew you couldn’t get it done. However, if you think about the time and energy you put into thinking about it and redirected that same energy into the task, you would have done something. Maybe all you put in is 15 minutes. But that’s 15 minutes of positive action in the direction of what you want to create and that 15 minutes is always worthwhile.

So here is the easy trick. Start. Take a step however small because getting the ball rolling means you overcame the resistance of not starting at all. You made the huge and important leap from inaction to action. That matters. Big projects don’t get done because everything goes according to plan and you are perfect at executing. Big projects get done because you keep putting one foot in front of the other. So if you have to scribble your business plan on the back of an envelope you found in the car while you are filling your car up with gas instead of at your neat desk on your MacBook Pro with fresh flowers and a candle burning – so be it. That’s life and sometimes you have to make it work rather than waiting for it to work for you.