Five Steps

"You just have to keep on doing what you do. It's the lesson I get from my husband; he just says, Keep going. Start by starting." -Meryl Streep

In a previous article titled In-Between Bits, I wrote about how nice it would be to start towards a goal and than immediately cross the finish. There would be so much we could accomplish if we could do away with all of the "in-between bits" of life.

If we are unable to skip all of that, maybe there is an easy way to get to where we want to be. So I started searching for ways to get me faster from the START of something to the FINISH of it. I wanted to know what the shortest distance was between having a goal and achieving it.

Somehow I stumbled upon the realization that there are only "five steps" to accomplish anything. There were of course three-step programs, seven-step plans, ten-step courses, and even one-step curriculums to get you there faster.

By far it seemed that the shortest route would take five steps though. There are five steps to fighting stress, five steps to accomplishing my goals, and five steps safer health care. Lucky for me, there are five step programs to better fitness, or to building my network of business contacts.

I found five steps to choosing child care and my grown adult children would be bemused to wonder why I'm looking for child care, (just doing research). There are only five steps to painless inventory management. I can only imagine what pain must be felt when trying to manage inventory.

To help me write better, there are five steps to writing argument essays, which will convince you I am correct in what this blog article is saying. Or I could take five easy steps and solve Europe's debt crisis.

There are only five steps to configuring privacy on Google Plus, great putting in golf, marketing my website, or to giving quality interviews. And if it were to happen by some strange medical oddity, I can be ready in five steps to have a healthy pregnancy

What is it about the number five? What is so significant about this one number?

The number five in religion is referred to as the Five Holy Wounds or Five Sacred Wounds that are believed to be the five piercing wounds that was suffered during the crucifixion of Jesus.

In ancient Greece, philosophers such as Aristotle believed the universe was made up of five elements: water, earth, air, fire, and ether. In radio communication, the term "five by five" is used to indicate perfect signal strength and clarity.

If you look at the keyboard (non touch screen users), nearly all devices with a numeric keypad (telephones, computers, etc.), the five key has a raised dot or raised bar to make typing easier. Knowing where that key is you can easily find the other numbers surrounding it.

I dug even deeper and found that a large majority of mammals, amphibians and reptiles have 5 fingers and/or toes on each extremity. Heck, we as humans have five appendages from the torso: two arms, two legs, and a head.

There are five oceans in the world, the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, Pacific, and Antartic. We have five senses: Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch, and Taste. And there are five basic tastes: Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, and Savory.

Maybe not perfectly and possibly with an accent, but I can say five in different languages such as Spanish (Cinco), French (Cinq), Italian (Cinque), German (Fünf), and Dutch (Vijf).

Confucius even said, "To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness."

After all of my research though there was an important and overriding thing I learned. Regardless of how many steps we believe are needed to accomplish something in life, there is one that is the most important. That one and most important step is your first one.

So whether you are looking to start a five-step, ten-step or even do the two-step (random two-step dance video), begin your journey with that first step.