Piecing Together the Puzzle

Last week for my birthday, my family and I worked together on a puzzle. While we began putting it together, I thought about our process. First we made sure that each piece was right-side-up, then we looked for all the edge pieces and put them together, and finally we started grouping pieces with similar colors together. We were able to take something complicated and break it down into smaller, more manageable steps.
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Sometimes when you have a big project in front of you, you can feel that same sense of being overwhelmed. I have often found that if you break everything down into individual tasks, it makes it a lot easier to get started. For example, I know landmen that have gotten very stressed about determining heirship for a large family tree. Although it takes more time, it really shouldn’t be any more difficult than heirship for a small family tree. It is just a matter of organization: break it down branch by branch.

My recommendation is the following: spend some time coming up with a set process for the work that you do; it shouldn’t be done differently each time in a haphazard manner. Then, before beginning a new project, take a few minutes to think about the tasks that the project will require and the time you will need for each one. Finally, you will be ready to jump in and get started in accordance with your plan. You may find that you need to tweak it a bit as you go, but you will eventually find what works for you.