Because the days are long but life is short.
As a twentysomething, it’s hard to seriously believe in my mortality, even though the rational part of me understands it well.
So to help me with the goal of not being one of the young whom youth is wasted upon, here are 30 things I want to accomplish before I’m 30, divided into 5 categories (Personal, Career, Education/Self-Development, Travel, and Finance), with 6 goals each.
My personal goals:
1. Live on my own, in my own apartment. (I just want something on this list that I KNOW I’ll accomplish, okay? It’s not cheating!).
2. Publish an article / op-ed. Or book, as long as we’re dreaming big here.
3. Complete a 5K run. Without gasping for breath.
4. Throw a good party with really, delicious appetizers that are more or less “homemade”.
5. Learn to dance the Argentine Tango. And actually find some milongas and dance!
6. Get married.*
*I hesitated before I wrote this, because, isn’t it a privilege of modern women to be able NOT to have “get married” as a goal? This is not the 1950s, when women went to college for a BA and an MRS degree.
But I thought about it more and I decided, why not write it down? I shouldn’t be ashamed of wanting to get married. Assuming CB and I stay together, I’d like to get married before 30. And if we don’t stay together, then, well, I’d still like to meet and marry the love of my life (because if CB and I break up and I STILL think he’s the love of my life? I’d be up a creek without a paddle). But maybe not by 30.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
i totally started my list today, too!
Now I want to start a list! And theres nothing wrong with wanting to get married, secretly when Rambo is looking at video games I flip though a bridal magazine here. * hides magazine*
I love these lists. I have a color coded (by category) list of things I want to do as well. Maybe I’ll brush them up and post them as well!
By the way I also struggle with a tinge of shame that getting married (or hell, even finding a BF at this point) is a goal of mine. I’m with you though – I want to get married at some point, and I shouldn’t feel bad about that.
However I think another part of my hesitation to actually list it as a “goal” is that it implies I should actually be working towards it – like consciously seeking out places where I might meet men, etc. Because honestly it’s the only real “goal” I have which I haven’t made a lot of progress towards already…
I should start one of these as well…and like everyone else said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get married. The beauty of the fact that this isn’t the 1950′s means that once you do get married, you don’t lose your identity and immediately become a housewife, unless that is something you want, and you can do that too.
Marrying my best friend … there’s very little in life that can top that. Certainly so far, a year into our marriage, nothing has. It wasn’t a goal of mine to get married; I just found the guy I wanted to do it with. Now, we’re working on goals we want to accomplish together and separately. Down the road, we’d like to start trying for kids. Having a child might be the one thing that could top our wedding day.
I love this idea!! It’s just the little something I need to give me a push. I have less than two years to go, so I had better get to work on my list.
What a good idea!!
I agree with the other commenters, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get married or with putting it on your list! In fact, I’ve recently been thinking about how it bothers me that it’s now even something 20something women with careers feel ashamed to admit wanting. Just because we’re independent doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also be able to want to find that special someone.
Well I thought I’d be married by now, and met Mr M in my 20′s, but it still hasn’t happened. I think we all want to marry before we look old and wrinkled in our wedding pics! Or is that just me? My dearly departed grandma wasn’t married until her 30′s, unheard of at the time. Good luck with yours!
What a great list and idea!
Since you already possibly have your man, go for the wedding… you’ve still got lots of time before you’re 30.
And one more thing… can’t wait for the rest of the lists!
very cool list!
Nice list…. He he.
and sure ull have a boat with a paddle in a creek !!!!.
Good reading … keep it up.
great list! i had a list like that but now that i’m 30 i guess i need to make a *new* one for when I’m 35? i’m almost 31 now, so i better get hoppin!
getting married is def. at the top of that list…no shame in that! I want companionship, and I want it to be as permanent as possible.
It was hard for me to put that on my list not because I’m ashamed of it, but because I can’t actively make it happen, or break it down into small goals like most other stuff. I could set a goal of going on one date a week or being friendlier or something, but that’s not going to necessarily make my soulmate come into my life! The problem is that there’s another person in the mix that I can’t control…(although I can try!).
Yeah, I would have thought that apartment one was pretty dead certain too, but I have never lived on my own. I met my fiance not long before I would have moved out and just kind of stopped going home.
I’m all for the live alone one–which is why I’m moving into my 1 bedroom this week, right as I turn 29 1/2! Certainly I don’t think I’ll be married, but I’ve never really put a time line on that (children, yes. marriage, no.). Maybe I’ll take Sense’s idea above and do a pre-35 list. Although that sounds like it’d be all serious stuff! Instead I’m going to write a retrospective, things I accomplished in my 20s. That sounds more fun.
NEVER PUT AN AGE ON MARRIAGE! It is a sure way to fail. Love, relationships, and the like happen to people of all ages, rushing or putting time constraints on yourself will ultimately cause doom later on. As for living on your own..DO IT! You’ll love the freedom and responsibility of taking care of yourself. As much as I appreciate you wanting to be “grown up” assuming all these things must happen before 30 is rather immature. People who are 30, do wander off to die. If that’s your old age, how will you feel at 40? 50?
Tango Lessons: One of your other goals was to learn Spanish. After working for 5 years, I took a 6 month sabbatical (like a maternity leave without the baby) and moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I took intensive Spanish lessons in the morning, and tango lessons in the afternoon. Work held my job because in the health care, speaking Spanish is a real asset and I can now converse fluently in Spanish. I highly recommend this program. http://www.latinimmersion.com/
That’s an impressive list. For tracking your goals, you may want to check out http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and has time tracking. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate, worth a try.
Hi Allie,
Thanks for dropping by! I don’t by any means think 30 is “old”. I hope that I will be more confident and comfortable in my own skin as I move into my late 20s and 30s. I don’t HAVE to have all these things done by the time I’m 30, but I know these are things I want to do, and if I get them done by 30, that’s great. It’s not immature to have goals. If not (I’m sure there will be goals that I don’t get done), then it’s okay. Just putting them down on paper makes them a little more real.
As for the love thing, I do agree – up to a certain point. People are ready for different things at different points in their life and their relationships. 30 is not an arbitrary number for marriage – it’s based on my best guess and hope on where my current, committed relationship will go.