The time period between your 20s and 30s is so strangely wonderful. It’s a time when you have the energy to be out all night, but probably not the extra cash to do it. You’ll have to come to grips with some of the decisions you made in your late teens (like if you went to college, what you majored in, and how much debt you took on to do so) but yet nothing feels set in stone.

This also might be the time of your life where you decide to settle down – or, just as likely, you’ll continue to hold out for the right person in your 30s. You might buy a house but, unfortunately, it’s more than likely you’ll have to spend your 20s renting an apartment. (Though, that’s not always such a bad thing and, believe me, can lead to some very memorable times.)

There’s so much variability with what happens in your 20s. There’s no real ‘normal’ experience, so instead of trying to conform to the norms, use this time to learn and grow.

So with that mindset as our focus, what do you need to do in your 20s? I looked at my own life and the lives of my friends to try and get a sense of what should be done before you turn 30. Not all of what follows is absolutely mandatory, but I think it’s a great place to start if you’re worried about coming into your third decade of life. Trust me, it’s not so bad.

The Essentials

1. Get your driver’s license:

For some folks, it’s so easy to get through your 20s without a license. They had their parents to drive them around when you’re younger, and then they could rely on friends or dates to get them from place to place in their late teens. Unfortunately, in your 20s, it’s a lot harder to rely on others to get you where you need to be. Even if you have a spouse that can drive you, it’s worth knowing how to drive in case you ever need to.

2. Move out of your parent’s house

This might be the toughest item on the list, but it’s the most essential, I think. Having your own space (or even a shared space with a roommate) is going to really give you the freedom you need in your 20s to grow. You’ll learn how to keep a place up-and-running, you’ll be able to host events with friends and you’ll come away feeling a sense of satisfaction knowing that you can be self-sufficient.

3. Record your life up to this point

Memories can fade quickly and before you know it, you’ll forget the name of your second grade teacher. The more you write down your life now, the more you’ll remember as you get older.

4. Build a persona, both in real life and online

We all don’t need to be influencers, but it will really help if you start building an online presence when you’re younger. Building a website or a strong social media profile will help people be able to find you for potential projects, and that will likely open a lot of doors for you in the future.

5. Figure out a data storage solution for yourself

Unfortunately, you’re going to go through a lot of technology in your 20s. Tablets, laptops and smartphones will come and go every year, and with them will go all of your photos, notes and contacts if you don’t figure out some way to keep everything organized. For me, it was as simple as downloading Dropbox to keep all of my important documents safe in the cloud and switching over from Microsoft Word to Google Docs for all of my writing.

Health Goals

6. Take a serious hike (more than a mile or two)

If you’re able, now’s the time to go out and be in nature for awhile. A long hike may sound daunting – so be sure to work your way up to it – but it’ll give you a huge sense of accomplishment.

7. Climb a mountain – even a small one

I didn’t want to put something hokey on here like Climb Mt. Everest. Everyone says they’re going to do something wild like that and they never do. It’s honestly just unrealistic. Instead of shooting for the world’s tallest mountain, take on something more manageable like a local peak – you’ll still get the feeling of accomplishment you get from climbing a mountain and you won’t die. Win-win.

8. Stay healthy so you can live until you’re 40

Health problems can really start hitting you when you’re in your 20s, especially if you’re not careful. Make sure to see your doctor periodically and get your blood work done. This is the decade to join a recreational sports league if you’re able to, or at least be sure to get outside everyday to stay active.

9. Plant a tree where you can see it grow

You can do so much later in your life, but this is one of the few things that you’ll need to do early if you want to see it through. Planting a tree as a seedling now will allow you to see that tree grow large and wide in the coming decades. It sounds silly, but watching a tree grow is an amazing analogy for your own life as it grows from sprout to spring and bears fruit before gracefully withering.

10. Take drugs a few times – but don’t go crazy

Right, so drugs. I definitely am not encouraging you to do anything illicit here. However, if you did happen to try and expand your mind with the help of some herbal remedies, I think you’d find out a lot about yourself.

Educational Goals

11. Read 30 books

Hopefully you encountered a decent amount of literature in your high school English courses, but if you have yet to read 30 numbers (give or take a few) then this is a great decade to remedy that.

12. Get a degree/certification of some sort

The college debt crisis is one of the most significant challenges of our time, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon. And yet, it’s only getting harder for folks who just have a high-school education. The answer here is to do your best to get some accreditation, certification or even a community college degree – anything to help you with your future career. Not everyone needs to do college, but I think everyone should try to get some sort of industry-recognized certification in their chosen fields. If you can do it without taking out student loans, even better.

13. Learn to play an instrument

Learning to play an instrument is a life skill that can slip right past you if you don’t pick it up when you’re younger. Ideally, you learned how to play something in school and you can keep that going. If not, now is a great time to pick up something new and learn it. Instruments are cheap (relatively) and will do wonders for your dexterity and mental health in the decades to come.

14. Learn a foreign language

The same line of thought applies to learning a foreign language. When you’re young, your brain is like a sponge and it can easily absorb new information. Learning a language will help you feel less nervous when you travel (see below) and is a great way to make friends when you visit foreign countries.

15. Learn how to use a nice camera and use it often

Putting aside the obvious social media clout that comes with posting your pictures, learning to use your camera and actually using it will give you a lot of memories to look back on. Not everyday is going to feel like it’s camera-worthy, but I’ve never heard someone say that they’re sorry they took too many photos when they were growing up.

Friends and Family Goals

16. Get to know your grandparents

If you’re lucky enough to still have them around, now’s the time to really connect with your grandparents. Yes, you’ll be able to ask your parents later about how your grandparents grew up and what their lives were like, but you’ll never be able to hear it from their own mouths once they’re gone.

17. Find a best friend – and several other friends, too

Friends are like dollar bills, you can never have too many. If you’ve already started to drift apart from your best friends from high school or college, it’s not too late to reconnect.

18. Take a trip with your friends

In a few years it’s going to become a lot harder to get everyone together for a boys’ or girls’ trip to Vegas. Careers and kids will quickly subsume most of your free time, so now’s the chance to get away for a weekend with your favorite people. The memories made then last a lifetime.

19. Pull an all-nighter with your friends

This will probably happen on your trip, but if it doesn’t make sure you find the time to squeeze in an all-night gaming session or movie marathon with your friends while your body still lets you.

Travel Goals

20. Travel abroad

If you’re really lucky, your parents will take you to a different country when you’re younger. I wasn’t that lucky (unless you count going into Canada once or twice). Now that you’re out on your own, now is a great time to rectify that. Getting out of the country is going to change your world for the better. It will help put everything in your life in perspective if it’s not there already.

21. Go to a music festival

Hopefully you’ll still keep up with new music as you get older, but there’s a very good chance that your favorite artist will not. Don’t wait until later to see them at a big concert – because 10 years from now, they might not be there anymore.

22. Move somewhere away from your hometown – at least temporarily

I was really lucky in my early 20s to get an internship at Official Xbox Magazine. It allowed me to get away from Buffalo for a few months and see somewhere new. This one relatively minor experience turned out to be the single greatest influencing factor of my entire life. It led to me moving to Bay Area for the better part of a decade, meeting my future wife, cementing my career in journalism and allowed me to make thousands of memories I’d have never made if lived in Buffalo my entire life.

23. Spend a weekend outside camping

This one really could apply to any stage of life, but it takes on a special meaning in your 20s. Time spent in the wilderness is going to be harder and harder to come by (again, thanks kids and jobs) so now is the time in your life you can really go off the grid without many – if any – repercussions.

24. Make a cross-country road trip

There are a million ways to make a cross-country trip from hitchhiking (don’t recommend it) to renting an RV. How you get across the country doesn’t really matter as long as it’s done safely, what’s more important is to see what’s out there in this country. Is it mostly cornfields, rolling hills and farmland? Absolutely. But in between that are cities like St. Louis, Denver, Albuquerque and Kansas City – missing these places means missing out on some of the best food in the country.

Financial Goals

25. Start your 401K

I’m not a finance guy so apologies if there’s some better investing vehicle out there that I don’t know about. That being said, starting a 401K with your company is a great idea. Not only will your company usually pay into this on your behalf (hello, free money) but because it’s an investment account it will also grow from market increases and compound interest.

26. Build good credit

Bad credit can really ruin you when you’re younger. One bad credit report can keep you from getting into an apartment or stop you from getting a car loan. These are vital things you’re likely going to need at some point in your life, so it’s worth doing everything in your power to try and build credit whenever and wherever you can.

27. Pay off all your debt

Again, not a financial guy here, but to me debt is like the anti-investment. Instead of you getting interest on your money each month, you’re getting charged that interest – and unfortunately it’s a lot more than the 10% you might get by investing the market. Paying off debt now means a better life later, even if it means postponing that international trip. Don’t run yourself ragged to get it done, but the sooner it’s paid off, the better and freer you’re going to feel.

28. Figure out where you want to work / what you want to do

At 18 it’s pretty unlikely you know what you want to do with your life. At that time, I thought I was going to be a superstar game programmer thanks to a computer science degree from a state school. (Whoops.) It wasn’t until my 20s that I found journalism so keep looking until you find it.

29. End your 20s with enough for a down payment on a house

I left this one for last because I know that it’s nearly impossible. If you don’t do this, don’t worry – you are definitely not alone here. Even if it’s not 100% feasible for you, this is a great goal to aim for. The sooner you can get a house, the sooner you can build equity – the biggest factor in increasing generational wealth. Do it not only for yourself first and foremost, but for your potential future family too if that’s the road you want to walk later in life.

Bonus Goal

30. Plan your 30th birthday party

Like every major milestone birthday, turning 30 has a good chance of coming with some strong feelings. Age is just a number, absolutely, but watching the clock tick ever-onwards can cause a bit of an existential crisis. Instead of hitting that milestone without any game plan, try and make it special for no other reason than to celebrate making it this far. Invite friends and family to join in – even if you have to do it entirely remotely because of Covid-19.