In my former pastorate there was a wonderful elderly man named Mr. Billy Stewart. He had built four grandfather clocks from kits supplied by the Emperor Clock Co. I had long wanted such a clock so, with his being available to be my backstop, I ordered a kit. The directions said to spread all the parts out to make sure they were there. The instructions showed an exploded view for matching the parts with the pictures.
I started with the base (which is always a good place to start – the foundation). I decided to read all the booklet before doing any more. However, I could not understand the later instructions until I got to them. That was a parable of life to me. You must grasp and perform the first steps before you can progress to the later ones.