Why

Why am I writing a blog? The answers are found in five words: meaningful, useful, fulfilling, helpful, and enjoy. The 52 Steps Forward blog was conceived to provide meaningful and useful messages leading one to a more fulfilling life because I want to be helpful and I enjoy writing them.

A fulfilling life is one with an abundance of peace, joy, and accomplishment. You will note I use the less linguistically fluid “fulfilling” instead of “fulfilled” as our lives are a journey with various seasons of fulfillment. While enjoying every season for what it brings, I encourage you to be moving continuously forward to something greater even in the best of seasons and particularly in the worst.

What

The 52 Steps Forward Blog is a compilation of reflections, observations, and guidance on a variety of pertinent topics (beliefs, learning, attitudes, forgiveness, goals, etc.). While there is undoubtedly personal bias in the selection of the subjects, I suspect they will be met the same nods of shared recognition we receive when we share a personal story that we believed was unique to us.

The weekly messages contain practical and applicable content intended to provoke thought and action but are not full of life hacks or to-do lists. They are intentionally brief (500-700 words). The brevity allows for fairly quick consumption but necessarily omits the most thorough analysis. The writing style is professional yet easily comprehended without the mental strain required for scholarly articles. I hope they are pleasurable to read but any entertainment value is secondary.

I undertake this endeavor at the risk of sounding like the old man who believes he has gotten wise and is overcome with the desire to share it with the world. While there must be some truth in the previous statement, my desire is to be helpful to others and I have some confidence (a/k/a arrogance) I can draft appealing messages accomplishing my objective. When I mentioned my concern to a younger friend, he said, “face it, you are older but have done and learned a lot that is worth sharing.” With that tenuous vote of confidence, I embark on this writing journey.

Who

These messages will resonate with those who enjoy learning, appreciate different perspectives, want to be challenged, and desire more from their life no matter how good it is. It is for those who understand fulfillment not only means prosperity, but more importantly, a better life for themselves and all within their sphere of influence.

How

Each week, a message will be delivered to your inbox. During the few minutes invested in reading the message, it may affirm an existing belief or entice you to consider a perspective you had not thought of or previously rejected. The expectation is that the content inspires positive action in thought or deed, hence the inclusion of “forward” in the blog title.

If, at the end of this year, your investment in consuming the messages resulted in an accumulation of learnings and consequent actions that moved you forward to a more fulfilling life, the blog will have been meaningful and useful. It will also have served my purpose to be helpful and provided an opportunity to write.
Thank you for joining the journey.