When I first started compiling code, there were often pages and pages of compiler errors. I felt that I had to read all the errors every time, and then somehow the most important information would magically emerge from taking in the big picture.

I learned to focus in on just the first compiler error, and ignore all the rest.

Read the first error. Resolve the first error. Recompile. Repeat.

This is just one example of breaking big problems into smaller problems.