I am at loose ends and confused this morning.  I don't know what to do.  I reached my goal yesterday of indexing general conference talks, and have no more to do.  I'm a creature of habit, and this is going to upset my whole daily routine.

For four or five months I've gotten up between 4:00 and 5:00, and have indexed one talk each morning.  That involves closely reading it, dividing it into sections, labeling each section with multiple topic headings, typing a one-line description of that section into the computer, and extracting any stories for placement into Danny's Book, Volume VII.  The process took an hour or two each morning.

Now what am I going to do?

When I began this latest project, I was four conferences behind.  I calculated that I could finish indexing them just as the October 2020 conference would begin.  I indexed the last talk the morning of conference.  I now have to wait for the arrival of next month's Ensign magazine before I can resume my indexing project and be truly caught up.  I will then have 52-1/2 years of general conferences all neatly summarized and made readily usable.

This is a huge accomplishment.  I can hardly believe what I've done.  If each conference averaged 39 speakers, 52-1/2 years of conferences amounts to 105 conferences, or about 4,100 talks.  Indexing 4,100 talks at one per day is 11 years' worth of mornings.

How did I do that!?  I'd have never even begun if I had thought that much time and effort would be involved.

Several speakers in general conference Saturday touched upon this.  One said that "daunting tasks become achievable step by step."

Another said that "great things begin small."

Another added that "the most important step of all is to begin.

That's the way to tackle any job.  Don't spend time worrying over the size of the task.  Just begin.  Set achievable intermediate goals such as how much to accomplish each day, and then keep at it.  Stick to your schedule.  One day the job will be done, and you'll look back in amazement at what you've accomplished.

Even better than the completed index, and the seven volumes of Danny's Books that have also been put together in the process, is what the projects have done to my mind.  I've read and internalized every talk given in general conference over a period of a half century.  Not even I can understand what this has done to me, but it must certainly have made me into a different person.

"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."  (Alma 37:6).

I've accomplished a great thing, and no one else in the world can appreciate it like I can.  I hope these efforts can bless my family.  I hope they use my books.  Even if they don't, I've benefited beyond anything anyone can understand.