I think it's still valuable enough to get started on something rather than worry about some arbitrary deadline. I have been working on this zine for a year and I have come to realize that no amount of "setting aside time" for it will ever guarantee that said time comes uninterrupted so it's best just to work on it and either just do whatever work I can whenever I have time or just.... make time.
and trust me I know that making time is easier said than done... I think the people who say that usually don't get that making time means that you have to tell someone that you have to make less time for them which is hard when the thing you're making time for is a personal project. Like it's easy to justify time when it has to do with "Work" or "family" but when it comes to doing something that's mostly for you like making something, it both comes with that weird feeling that you're somehow being selfish and if you're surrounded by people who don't really believe in the idea that your time belongs to you it's just.... hard...
Either way you just have to make time. Even if occasionally that means wrestling your time away from people who think they're entitled to all of your unaccounted time. even if they'll make you feel guilty about it.