I heard a teacher once say that if we knew in advance what would be required of us in any major endeavor, we would never take the first step. In my own life experience, I've really come to realize how true this is.

Things are rarely as simple as they seem on the surface. Once we dig in to a project many unforeseen requirements appear.

When I decided to make my PathPositives recordings for example, I knew there would be several steps in that process, but I had no idea all that would be involved. I was focused on selecting topics and creating the product scripts. That seemed like the 'meat' of the project. Little did I know... 

Of course I had to get recording equipment (microphone, etc) and recording/editing software. I had to learn to use those things. I had to learn to control my voice to minimize puffs and unwanted noises on the recordings and figure out how to keep my volume level consistent. I had to train my voice to make it sound soothing and relaxed.

There were the technical considerations of how to break the 30 - 45 minute recordings into tracks, deciding on product and file naming schemes to keep all the various audio tracks organized properly. I had to learn how to edit out background noises from the recordings, like the buzzing of the private planes that fly over my house constantly in the summer time!

Getting good CD burning software, learning to burn and duplicate CDs, do quality control on the CDs themselves - all came along as areas I had to learn about and purchase equipment for.

Packaging was another issue - creating the CD jewel cases and CD labels with a graphic designer, figuring out how to print those in a cost effective manner for small quantities, buying a shrink wrap machine (which was stolen in a burglary at my home before I ever got to use it), and spending many hours actually creating the final CD packaged products - all took a lot of time and money.

Then came product distribution. Setting up my online store and payment systems, creating an online catalog, researching postage and sales tax issues all required me to learn and stretch outside my comfort zone and areas of expertise.

The list simply never ends!

It was hundreds and hundreds of hours of work. Now, I have all the mechanisms in place and 'turning out a new product' doesn't take that long. Creating the script, recording it, and putting it into the production/sales system is fairly straight forward and efficient, but it took about 2 years from the 'first idea' to get to that point. If anyone saw me go from 'concept to product' now, they might think it seemed pretty easy. They would have no idea what I went through to get to this place!! 

I'm seriously not sure I would have done it if I could have foreseen every challenge or requirement that came up along the way! I'm serious about that!

Lucky for me, and for all of us who step into big projects, we only have to do what's right in front of us to do at any given moment. Sure, we should do our best to plan and schedule, but if we try to shoulder the burdens of the entire journey in the first step, we'll collapse and give up. We aren't meant to work that way!

It's all about taking one step at a time and doing our best in that moment. There is a Christian scripture that says, "The Lord is a lamp unto my feet..." If we have a lamp at our feet, it doesn't illuminate the next mile of our path. It illuminates only the next step. That's all we need to see and it's all we need to take on at the moment. The very next step is our only concern.

Thankfully, many creative and innovative people in our world focus on what's in front of them in the fulfillment of grand visions.

Take the next step on your grand adventure with determination and awareness, and wait for what comes next to be revealed to you. All you need to focus on in this moment is the next task in the sequence.

What's your next step?