Every smart plan for personal financial improvement begins with a budget. Knowing how much money you need to spend, where you need to spend it, and what you can really afford is critical to financial success. Developing a budget is the cornerstone of taking control over your financial situation.

The process of building a budget isn’t as easy as it sounds, though. The difficulties associated with generating an accurate budget probably keep more people from making progress than we’ll ever know. Motivated individuals who are ready to take control over their finances often bail out of the process before they ever build that budget.

Why is it so tough to put a good budget together? It certainly isn’t due to a lack of guidance. You can find dozens of step-by-step guides to march you through the process of constructing a budget. The individual steps are challenging, but they’re not impossible. So, what is it about budgeting that makes it a common progress killer?

Much of it stems from the fact that putting a budget together isn’t fun or “sexy”. It’s a boring prerequisite that does not, in and of itself, put an extra dollar in your pocket. It’s paperwork. It’s analytical. It’s dull.

And it’s time-consuming, often requiring you to track spending for a month or so to get a handle on your habits and real expenses. People often don’t know where their money is really going and it takes some time, often several weeks, to get a firm grip on the outflow of cash and credit card use. When you want real results, the wait time involved in study and budgeting can be punishing.

When people finally decide to take action on their finances, they want results. The want to “do something”. Planning sets the stage for results but it doesn’t produce them. People understand that and they often lose momentum before they finish budgeting.

That’s only part of the story, though. Another reason people often fail to complete the critical budgeting step is because it requires them to confront some ugly truths. Figuring out why you aren’t reaching your financial goals and learning where your money actually goes can be uncomfortable and embarrassing for some people. It can also show them, in black and white, that they’ll need to make some difficult changes and choices if they’re going to right their financial ships.

So, here you are. You want to improve your financial situation and you know that determining your real household budget is a necessary first step to doing things the right way. How are you going to push through this process? What can you do to avoid joining the ranks of those who never make it through this absolutely critical first step? Here are a few tips for getting the job done.

Keep your eyes on the prize. Instead of dwelling on the unattractive elements of building a budget, keep your mind on the eventual goal–taking control over your personal finances. If you focus on the eventual gains you’ll make from accomplishing the task, you’ll be more likely to see it through. Remember what motivated you to start making progress in the first place and let that inspire you.

Understand that the past is history. Confronting your current reality might be uncomfortable, but you need to remember that you’re doing it because you’re making changes. Your spending habits and financial management errors may be haunting you right now, but they’re in the past. It’s okay to confront your mistakes because they are in the past. The past might influence your present, but it doesn’t control your future.

Improve while you’re studying. People abandon the budgeting process because they feel like they’re spinning their wheels, merely cataloging their activity and “doing the math” instead of actually taking action. Budgeting, however, isn’t mutually exclusive with taking action. While you’re tracking expenses and figuring out “where you are” with respect to your finances, you can also make smart moves in terms of trimming spending. These gains can help position you for a brighter future even before you’ve finished budgeting.