When I was 22 years old, I took a sick day from work, as I was truly sick at how my life was getting nowhere. I sat down at the dining room table and asked myself a very important question: "What do I want out of life?", and as I sat there thinking, I picked up a pencil and started writing down my thoughts on a pad of paper. I wrote down every thought that came to mind, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it might have been, I just kept writing and writing.

Within 24 hours, I had filled the whole pad of paper with all of my thoughts, dreams, and life desires. I no longer felt ill. I felt great. I felt a sense of direction.

The next morning, just before I got to work, I completed a list of all my desires in life. I felt great saying this is all I wanted out of life. I reviewed that list and had it handy for the following six months, until I lost it. 18 years later, I found the list as we were moving from our first dream home to our second. As I reviewed...