Revisiting my 30 Before 30 List (And Making it Much More Realistic)
Back in 2021, when I was 25, I wrote a 30 before 30 list. Today, whilst I’m 27, I thought it was time I revise that list and make it more realistic.
When I was 25, I was focused on everyday life experiences and escape, as we were still stuck in lockdown. Now I want to focus on actually being in a solid position for my 30s.
To date, I have achieved 10 of my 30 goals.
30 Before 30 Goals I’ve achieved
- Become a publisher author
- Adopt a cat
- Go to a drag show
- Become Head of Marketing
- Eat at a Michelin-star restaurant
- Go to Disneyland Paris
- Create a full 1-second video in a year
- See Hamilton on the West End
- Expand my #MarketYourMarketing workshops
- Have over 100,000 views on my blog
- Go to Kew Gardens
30 Before 30 Goals I’ve not achieved
- Go to Italy
- Be on TV
- Throw a house party
- Take a class
- Have £5000 in savings
- Have over 100,000 unique views of my blog
- Win some awards
- Keep a plant alive
- Read at least 5 Charles Dickens’s books
- Travel to Cornwall
- Spend a weekend in the Lake District
- Get a psychic reading
- Expand my freestyle lifestyle
- Have a launch party
- Write 4 more novels
- Renovate my home
- Finish a non-fiction project
- Work with 30 brands
- Read 100 classics
- See a Shakespeare play at the Globe
These goals are mixed. Some are travel-related and others work-related, and things have changed in my life since I wrote them. Whilst I will be keeping a few, I’ve revised
Revised 30 Before 30 Ideas
First things first, here are the revised goals on my 30 Before 30 list which I’ve yet to complete.
Have £10,000 in savings
By the time I’m 30 I want to have £10,000 in saving – rather than £5000 – so I’m in a comfortable position financially. I’ve been working on it for a while and I think I can manage this, maybe even more, by the time I’m 30.
Write three more novels
Since I wrote this goal in 2021, I’ve started two novels – one of which I’ve finished – but life has been getting in the way a lot recently. So I’ve revised this goal from writing four novels to three novels. That way I can aim to write one a year over the next three years, which feels more realistic to me.
Have a dinner party
I’ve discovered that house parties are not really my cuppa, and I don’t have that much space. But dinner parties are manageable, so this is going in the diary.
Travel to five new places in the UK
Instead of saying ‘Visit Cornwall’ or ‘Visit the Lake District’ I’ve combined these two goals and revised it to visit five new places in the UK. This year I have plans to visit Manchester and York, and I hope to travel more in the next few years and hit the goal of going to five new places.
Save up for a mortgage
Rather than renovate my home which isn’t really possible for a rental, I’m going to update this – begrudgingly – to save up for a mortgage. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ll have enough for a deposit by the time I’m thirty, but maybe with £10,000 in savings and a plan in place, I might have got on the road to saving up for one.
Get a two-book deal
I had on the list ‘expand my freelance lifestyle’, but I no longer do freelance journalism or go on the radio, so my own ‘freelance’ life choice is writing novels. So I thought I would make this more specific to help with manifesting it, and instead aim for getting at least a two-book deal by the time I’m thirty. My first novel was an IP project and a one-off, but I would like to develop under a publishing company, so my fingers are crossed for this deal.
Work with 15 brands
I don’t tend to work with many brands, though I have done a few recently. Instead of 30, I would like to work with 15. In the last few months I’ve worked with three and prior to that I worked with five, so there’s still a bit of a gap to fill. But I’ve got a few years to manage.
Take a cocktail-making class
Instead of just saying ‘take a class’ I would really like to take a cocktail-making class. This is in part due to a book I plan on writing, but also because I would really like to learn how to make a cocktail.
Be an extra
Instead of ‘Be on TV’ I’ve altered this to ‘be an extra’. I just love the idea of being on set for a day and being an extra in a TV show or a film. It’s something on my bucket list that I’d love to do.
Write a journal for a year
Instead of ‘finish a non-fiction project’ I’ve altered this to finishing a journal. At the time I wrote this list, I was looking at maybe writing a non-fiction book, but that was quickly put paid to, so instead, I returned to journaling.
Do something adventurous
And finally, because I need to add a further item since I combined two travel ones, I would like to do something adventurous by the time I’m 30. This could be a travel adventure or a life adventure, I could go freelance or start a family, or it could be as simple as sky-diving. It’s an open-ended item on the list.
Those are the goals I am changing, which means that my revised 30 Before 30 List now looks like the following.
Revised 30 Before 30 List
- Read 100 classics
- Have £10,000 in savings
- Go to Kew Gardens
- Reach five Charles Dickens novels
- Write three more novels
- Have a dinner party
- Travel to five new places
- Save up for a mortgage
- Get a two-book deal
- Work with 15 brands
- Take a cocktail-making class
- Be an extra
- Write a journal for a year
- Do something adventurous
- Win some awards
- Keep a plant alive
- Go to Italy
- See a Shakespeare play at the Globe
- Get a psychic reading
- Have a launch party
- Become a publisher author ✔
- Adopt a cat ✔
- Have over 100,000 views on my blog ✔
- Go to a drag show ✔
- Become Head of Marketing ✔
- Eat at a Michelin-star restaurant ✔
- Go to Disneyland Paris ✔
- Create a full 1-second video in a year ✔
- See Hamilton on the West End ✔
- Expand my #MarketYourMarketing workshops ✔
What is on your 30 Before 30 List? Let me know in the comments below.
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