Editor’s Note: For the remainder of the summer, your weekly Pause blog postings will feature the ‘Best of Pause’. These are readers’ favorite messages from the earlier years of the Pause e-zine.

Whether you are a long time subscriber, or new to our list, I sincerely hope you enjoy these messages. Come September, your messages will once again feature all new info and resources.

Reflection & Action: It’s in a backward glance that the patterns often appear. As I think about many things that have unfolded in my own life, I can usually pinpoint one action or one choice that steered me in certain directions.

Saying yes to a summer job my first year of University introduced me to a line of work that ended up changing my college major in the near term, and my career direction over the long haul.

Agreeing to a coffee date with a classmate at University led me to meet and later marry the love of my life.

Writing a letter to the editor of our daily newspaper led to an invitation to write a column, which in turn launched a weekly writing habit that led to publishing the first of five books.

First steps can point us in many directions. Some lead to an uphill climb and others to a downhill slide. Much of life’s progress or regress boils down to our moment by moment choices and actions.

So, here’s the thing. What do you long for? Where do you hope to go? What do you hope to accomplish? And, for any of those aspirations, what might be that one first step?

Although the end result might be overwhelmingly ambitious and seem to be far, far away, the next step is usually something small, singular and very near at hand.

Place a call. Ask a question. Set a date.

Whatever it is, take that first step. Start small – and start soon. Here and now would be ideal!

Quote Of The Week:  “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

Resource Of The Week: Dip into this Lifehack article: The # 1 Secret to Life Success: Baby Steps.

Readers Write:  PW writes: Your thoughts on first steps are very timely for me. 14 months ago I joined Weightwatchers. Yesterday, I got on the scale and I weighed 100 pounds less than I did when I joined. Joining was the first step on my road to here. Every day I continue to make choices to move myself further along that road. Occasionally I think, “Why didn’t I start sooner?” But much more often I think, “Thank goodness I started!” Small steps matter.