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We are all guilty of the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ lie. Okay it’s not always a lie but how often do you actually go through with it? Be honest, most of the time it just keeps being pushed onto another tomorrow and eventually that tomorrow never comes. 

Whether it’s starting a business, learning a new skill or writing a blog, start today.

Dedicate at least 10 minutes today to work on reaching that goal. Even if it is just 10 minutes of brainstorming business ideas, researching the market, writing your first blog post or coming up with a plan. The point of this exercise is to start. 

Remember that there will always be something going on in your life that can be seen as an obstacle or a reason to post-pone your start date. 

Don’t allow your comfort zone to talk you out of it. 

The truth is that people are always waiting for the right time or the perfect moment to start but the reality is that there is no perfect moment, the time is now.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.