On Turning 35...

Just hit 35—another lap around the sun without kicking the bucket. High-five to me.

Lately, as the years stack up, I’ve been diving deeper into self-reflection. Mapping out the road ahead, replaying screw-ups, and tallying wins versus the ones that got away. Where the hell will I be at 70? It’s a question that keeps me up.

My 20s? Man, I beat myself up over that decade way too much. Pointless, since you can’t rewrite history. But damn, that nagging voice says I squandered prime potential chasing shiny distractions that meant zilch in the end.

No way I’m repeating that in my 40s—staring back at my 30s with the same regrets. That’s why I’ve been auditing my life these past weeks: wins, flops, the whole mess.

The last five years? A wild ride.

Kicked off my current gig back in 2012, right before turning 30. Career-wise, I’ve been blessed. My wife and I fell hard for travel, welcomed two amazing girls into the mix, and chased that Airstream dream across the country. After two years of travel we ended up planting roots out West.

But yeah, personal slip-ups crept in too. Stuff I need to fix.

Health’s been tanking for a couple years—weight yo-yoing like crazy. Hit a rock-bottom 230 lbs last month.

Embarrassing as hell, straight-up shameful.

No BS excuses: I eat garbage, skip workouts, and pretend desk life isn’t the culprit. If I want change, gotta grind. Simple math.

I’ve also known for ages I need to lock down our family’s future. Retirement nest egg, college funds for the kids, ditching reliance on the system.

For the last few years, I’ve been chatting with my buddy Shawn about buy-and-hold rentals. For regular folks like us, it’s the golden ticket to wealth-building—especially with my skills, creating passive income that doesn’t chain me to a J-O-B.

It’s been on the whiteboard forever, but progress? Sluggish. We purchased our first rental last year, but we’re currently living in it. My goal and plan is to expand that and get more into another property. And possibly do our first flip.

Overall, these years have been solid. My big slip? Picking quick dopamine hits over the long game—that could’ve landed me further ahead. Oh, and the weight? It’s literally weighing me down (pun game strong).

But this birthday sparked a mindset reset.

Time to lock in, crush those big goals, and drop the unchangeable crap.

Let’s build.