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     Today, I turn thirty-four. It seems that after thirty, time just goes faster and faster. At sixteen, I remembered wishing I was eighteen. At eighteen, I wanted to be twenty-one. At twenty-one, I wanted to be twenty-five. Once thirty hit, I remembered thinking about all the things I wanted to accomplish by that age; some of them I achieved, but a lot of them fell short. I thought I’d be rich and married to a beautiful wife; I thought I’d have a boy and a girl, a big house and a couple nice cars. I thought I’d have a flourishing business with multiple streams of income flowing from several different real estate investments. I thought I’d be “playing hopscotch around the world” with my family, going on speaking tours like Anthony Robbins, encouraging people worldwide to change their lives, and motivating employees from Fortune 500 companies to encourage healthy corporate environments. I thought it would happen by now, but it didn't.

      Four years have passed since my thirtieth birthday, and I don’t have a wife or kids, I don’t have a big house with nice cars, I don’t have a flourishing business with multiple streams of income, I don’t have any real estate investments, and I’m not going on any speaking tours around the world.

       I’m thirty-four years old today, and what have I got?

       I have peace. I have love. I have joy. I have (some) wisdom. I have revelation. I have direction. I have faith. I have friends. I have family. I have command of the English language. I have health. I have (some) money.  I have a place to call home. I (still) have dreams. I have goals. I have ambitions. I have a calling. I have a destiny.

       For some people, life goes exactly according to plan. For many of us, however, we are not making what we thought we'd be making, doing the job we are currently doing, at the age we currently are. For many of us, life has been so unpredictable and uncontrollable that we have allowed our poor life-planning strategies, measly goal-setting skills, and bad habits get the best of us. 

        At thirty-four, I want to catch up with the goals that have eluded me. I want to be a better goal-setter. I want to be a reliable accountability partner.  I want to re-commit myself to birthing the dreams inside of me, and I want to finally have my date with destiny. 

        At thirty-four, I believe I will.