I think a lot of the time it's simply a fear of failure that keeps us, me at least, from going further with a project. You think of all the ways something can go wrong and forget to focus on it going right. It either becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy or you paralyze yourself with the fear of failure and stop working on it altogether. Can't fail if you don't go any further, right?
A couple years ago I decided that I wasn't going to allow that to stand in my way any longer and so I gave myself permission to fail with no guilt attached. The immediate result was that I was far more relaxed both mentally and physically when I was quilting and that made my work so much better. I've since learned that some quilts are just not meant to be finished, ever, by anyone, but those quilts are some of the best teaching tools that I have ever had.
Switching to a more positive outlook has worked out really well for me and I no longer live by the "If you spend enough time planning, you never have to actually do anything" rule...at least when it comes to quilting.
