I have finished my first symphony. It’s a lot like finishing a first novel. It’s almost like giving birth. First, there was this blank score and now, nearly an hour’s worth of music written for a chamber orchestra. The sweat, the starts and stops, the hesitations, the moments of sheer frustration and the other moments where you believe that you are a fool to have ever started such a task that can never be finished, the exhilaration as each movement comes together all pulling together for that final moment when you can announce the birth of a symphony.  But by the grace of God did this come together. For by myself I had neither the sill nor the fortitude to make this happen.

Finished is a relative word. That’s the hard part to admit. What I actually have is a digital symphony and the ability to print out a conductor’s score. Now, I get to create the individual scores for each of the instruments. You might think this simple since I already have the conductor’s score but in truth, it’s more complicated than it seems. Each instrument has a different way of viewing the score and there are idiosyncrasies that need to be addressed. The difficulty of this is augmented by the fact that I have never played with an orchestra so I have to rely on the kindness of others to help me succeed with this.

But these are details and I can do it. I just need to do a little each day, just like when I am writing the music. I just need to break it up into chewable pieces. That’s true of a lot of things in my life. Many of the things I set out to do are daunting. I used to be afraid of even trying to accomplish great things, but then I came up with a set of rules that makes it palatable. I will share them with you. Embrace what you want and ignore the rest if it suits you.

No job it too big if you:

a. break it into manageable parts

b. give yourself realistic expectations in regards to time

c. delegate whenever possible but never delegate what is your responsibility

d. choose your destination before you start your journey

e. dedicate you time and energy to the project

f. find ways to turn your weaknesses into strengths

g. take ownership

h. avoid nay sayers

i. Let God do the leading and have an open heart to what he wants accomplished.

I hope these help you with your next big project and I pray you don’t back away when given the opportunity. How tall the mountain is boils down to a matter of perspective.