This Is Where I Leave You

My Signature project is fast coming to a close. The final presentation is next week and then all that's left is what comes after. For future Signature participants, here are a few notes on things I learned along the way.

What lessons have I learned? 

When I was knee deep in research and digging a whole to China through JSTOR, I didn't feel like I was learning much. My research felt disorganized and unhelpful. But then, all of a sudden, it was April and the project was nearly over. I started putting my final presentation together, and I realized just how much material I did have. It was too much! Assembling my power point was a process of information elimination, choosing what I could actually share in the time frame. I really know a lot more about lutes now!

I felt like my lute knowledge was insignificant because I'd spent the past 12 months immersed in lute word. Lute world is a wonderful place, but everyone there knows very, very much about lutes. It's easy for a newbie to feel intimidated. So when I surfaced back into everyday America, I discovered to my great surprise how much more I had to offer than at the beginning.

The lesson here is to appreciate what you do. Appreciate even the things that seem trivial. They may turn out to be more important than you think. And if you can keep an eye on the end result, the means to it feel a lot more meaningful.

What would be useful to know at the beginning of a project?

I wish I'd had a better sense of what my project was going to entail. I certainly thought about it and I had many hopes and ideas, but I didn't sit down and map it out. That would have been extremely helpful. And yet, I couldn't have known exactly what I was going to do because I'd never done it before! If I were doing this project again next year, I could do it perfectly. Or at least I'd know where to start. 

I wish I'd realized sooner that the project couldn't be as grand as I imagined. I'm a very good dreamer and I dream very big. A little more of an eye to to the realm of feasibility would have eased the process.
I also wish I'd known that it really would turn out well. True, it is not as grand as I might have imagined, but I think it's still pretty great. It's great because I know that my brain has changed because of it and my world has grown.

So, basically, you'll be awesome! . . . And you just have to remember that. :)