8 Life Skills Every Twenty Something Should Learn Before 30

School is useful for many reasons. It teaches us important subjects, gives us structure, and helps us learn useful skills. However, I’d argue that the school of life teaches us a lot more useful skills that we need in the day to day of everything. That’s how we come to discover there are more life skills that we should learn before 30.

I don’t believe in life timelines, as I’m sure you know if you’ve read this post. However, I do think that by age 30 we should at least know the basics of a few essential skills. The skills in question will be discussed in today’s post. 

8 Skills Every Twenty Something Should Learn Before 30

Whether you just turned 20, or you’re on the countdown for your thirtieth birthday, it’s never too early or too late to learn these life skills. Some of the following skills are trackable, while others are a bit more abstract. They are all of equal importance though. Let’s see what they are.

1) Advocating For Yourself

Gone are the days of a parent accompanying you to the doctor and knowing just what to say. It’s time to start speaking up and standing up for yourself.

This goes for all areas of your life by the way, but let’s start with the doctor’s appointments. Here are some key things to keep in mind as you start to get better at advocating for yourself.

• Make those doctor appointments: You should at minimum go to your yearly checkups. You’ll also want to go to the doctor when you start feeling like something could be wrong. Don’t wait until it gets worse. 
• Be honest with your doctor: Tell them everything so that they can get a clear picture on how to treat whatever illness/ailment you may have.
• Ask questions: If you don’t understand something, feel like your symptoms may be being overlooked, or anything else you are worried about, it’s important that you speak up and ask questions.
• Don’t be afraid to get a second, or even third opinion: If you feel like you aren’t being heard you can move on to a doctor that will listen to you and reassure you. Only you know your body and you have to advocate for it.

2) Learn Cooking Skills Before Turning 30

You can’t survive on fast food and microwave meals forever. As easy as that would be, it’s not healthy. Your body needs nourishment. What you eat can affect everything from your gut health, skin, energy and more.

If you are starting from zero I’d recommend attending cooking classes, reading books about cooking, and following food blogs. You don’t need to full send it and start cooking five course meals. Start with one recipe at a time. The more you practice the easier cooking will become.

3) Emotional Regulation

There is a lot going on in our twenties. We are still trying to figure out who we are and what we want. All this is happening while also witnessing big life moments in our lives as well as our loved ones. Not to mention the world isn’t in the best condition right now. 

All of that can stir up a lot of emotions. The key is to learn how to regulate our emotions. You may be wondering how one does that? Some of the ways to regulate your emotions that has worked the best for me have been identifying emotions, keeping a mood tracker, breathing exercises, and therapy. 

4) Money Management

Money management is a big skill to lock down as soon as you can and hopefully to at least learn before 30. Getting comfortable practicing, and excelling at this skill has the power to impact your life in countless ways. From budgeting to investing, there is a lot to learn.

Lucky for you we have a lot of content and resources on this very subject. Take a look around and put the advice me and my fellow contributors here at GenTwenty have offered into action.

5) Basic Car Maintenance

I think this skill is self explanatory. Vehicles are expensive, trust me I know this all too well. Not keeping up on the maintenance can cost you a pretty penny.

The best way to avoid this is to listen to your car, keep up on any scheduled maintenance and repairs. Here is a list of some of the things you should check regularly. 

• Oil and fluids
• Tire pressure
• Power steering fluid
• Lights

6) How To Set Boundaries (and stick to them)

Your future self will thank you for figuring out your boundaries during this time. I am talking about those boundaries in all areas of your life here. Relationships, social media, food, work, and anything else you can think of would work here. 

So how do you determine what areas need boundaries and what those should be? What I would do to start is take some time to journal and brain dump. After you have finished, take a step back and review. Then make a list of the top areas that came up and start developing the boundaries you want to work on.

You don’t have to start them all at once, in fact I highly recommend you don’t. Gradually adding these boundaries in your life and continuing to practice them will greatly impact your life.

7) Work/Life Balance is a Crucial Skill to Learn Before 30

Life in your twenties can easily feel like a battle of extremes. There are times where you are all about living life and creating amazing memories. I think our early twenties can be defined this way for a lot of us. Then there is the other extreme of focusing solely on work.

The truth is that none of those options are right. What you want is a good mix of both. This ensures that you enjoy your life without burning out. Taking time to figure out your perfect work/life balance in your twenties will help your thirties go smoother.

8) Wellness

This last skill that every twenty something should learn before 30 is wellness. This is something that I wish I took more seriously in my early-mid twenties. Maybe then I wouldn’t have had to get my gallbladder removed the day before my birthday in 2025. So trust me when I say, your wellness is important to focus on in your twenties. Here are a few ways to do that.

• Go to all doctor appointments
• Eat a balanced and healthy diet
• Exercise regularly 
• Learn how to express emotions healthily 
• Get better sleep

Those are just a few ways to focus on building your wellness skill. At GenTwenty we talk a lot about this subject. Whether you want to learn more about mindfulness, or start creating a better sleep prep routine, we have a little of everything to read.

Final Thoughts on Skills to Learn Before Turning 30

Now that you know the eight life skills I recommend learning before you turn 30, which one will you be focusing on first? Do you have any others you would add to the list? Let me know in the comments.

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