Having a successful business for over 25 years and at the point now where I can pick and choose if I work and how much.

I am a carpenter by trade. By far my finest accomplishment was my work on a home in Arizona in 2003-2004. In a market where the average home is around $150/sq. ft, this home's construction cost was over $675/sq ft. It was a world class design, using the highest quality materials, and the type of custom work most guys like me dream of being given the oppportunity to do.

The fact that at the age of 28, I FINALLY figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and started my own business.

Volunteering to teach Spanish speaking people English.

When I was relatively new in my field, I was honored when my boss asked me to attend a program review. I am not technically inclined at all--I can barely work my laptop, but he figured it would help me gain experience. The product in question was important in the dissemination of crucial tactical data to the end user. The product had issues with one of its components and nobody could figure out what to replace the deficient part with. I'm sitting in this review with a bunch of really sharp engineers and techie types and had the disadvantage (in this specific environment) of being young, inexperienced, and female. This big shot is up there doing his tap dance around the issue and promising they will continue to look into it. It occurred to me that I was aware of something that was a good solve--I nudged the lead engineer and told him what light bulb had come on in my head. He said go with and interject and suggest it. I did. I was met with something just short of a verbal assault from the much embarrassed big shot. I stood my ground. I could see my bosses back and he was laughing so hard we had to break. He was amused that I had taken this guy down so gracefully and he was astounded that I figured out how to close that Pandora's Box.When one eats, sleeps, and breathes a project for so long, one gets so close to it that obvious just isn't obvious anymore. This was one of those cases. Long story short, it worked. Problem solved.