This is a very painful topic for me. I have stopped doing so many things.
Sometime so much postponing makes the pursuit of the thing preposterous.
I think that in my case the fear to a negative outcome is aggravated by th kinds of people you have to go through to get to your goal.
In a country where politics rule, where meritocracy is non-existent, where hypocrisy and insecurities turn profesionals into gossipers, it is really difficult to materialize academic, profesional or personal projects unless you are a good "diplomat".
I am not.
I am too honest, most of the time, and the anticipation of a conflict paralizes me, thus ruining the achievement of a goal.
Another factor that kills my projects is taking care of more things I can handle, especially someone else's. I usually put aside some of my own project to help a friend or relative and that is the begining of the end for my goals. Time is a bitch and we can only do so much.