Making Thanksgiving Dinner

I have prepared the Thanksgiving dinner at our house for many year now.  In fact I've taken on the role of meal preparation pretty much altogether.  Along the way I've learned a lot and developed some recipes which have become family favorites . . . as well as made some definite failures - who knew potato and sauerkraut tacos wouldn't work????

Anyway, I've learned to follow recipes and directions on boxes and discovered an amazing thing:  if you are careful to follow the directions the result will almost always turn out OK . . . and with some practice you might even be able to improve on the original.  I suppose this isn't really amazing, after all, the whole point of the directions to begin with is to produce the intended result.

As I was essentially learning to cook, it became obvious to me that the trick isn't in the preparation of any single dish (just follow the directions); what sets apart the true "cook" is the ability to get everything done and on the table AT THE SAME TIME.  It is all about sequencing the work to achieve the intended goal, which is greater than any single dish - no matter how wonderful.  Just because you can make a great Turkey is pretty meaningless if it gets cold waiting for all the other parts of the meal to get finished.

I think I was actually exposed to this lesson as a boy growing up watching my Dad.  Dad was a building contractor who built over a 100 homes and many churches.  Watching him coordinate the flow of sub-contractors and supplies to his own crew made a deep impression on me at an early age.

This is the same thing is most areas of life, including business, education and faith.  It is the difference between success and failure.  Identifying the goal (e.g. having ALL the items on the menu done and on the table at the right time), and then sequencing the work so that each part is started in proper relationship to all the others defines the true "cook" or contractor, or LEADER.

So before you begin, take a moment to think about the end, the parts that have to come together for the "end" to be gauged a success, and develop your plan to sequence each part to reach that goal.