Your 30s are typically a time of settling down and you can’t get away with many of the risks or bad habits that may have characterised your 20s.
We’ve collected below what we think is a short list of advice on how to ensure you make the most of this fantastic decade, because one thing you can never get back is time.
1. Spend time with people who add value to your life. Stop spending time with those who don’t treat you well and instead spend more time with loved ones. Don’t let your entire focus be on work. While this is an important time to climb the career ladder, it’s also a great time to make memories. The older you get, the harder it is to make meaningful relationships. We think this is a great quote from Dr Steve Marboli.
2. Don’t obsess about the future. There’s not a magical moment where you start feeling like an adult who has it all figured out. We’re not even sure if that ever truly happens. The constant learning can actually be lots of fun also. The reality is you cannot anticipate your life 5 years into the future. It will not develop as you expect. Stop assuming you can plan far ahead, stop obsessing about what is happening right now because it will change anyway. You’ll be happier for it. It’s healthy to have goals for you and your family, but don’t stress over specifics. Acknowledge that you still have plenty left to learn and that you’re going to continue to grow as a person in unexpected ways.
3. Take care of your health. With a growing list of responsibilities, one of the first things that can go is making exercise and healthy eating habits a priority. But think of putting forth a little effort in both areas as a long-term investment. Your health is absolutely your wealth.
4. Establish a financial foundation for the future. Hopefully you used your 20s to figure out a way to pay back the student loan, and also started saving. But if you hit 30 and you’ve set nothing aside, it’s not too late. Determine what percentage of your paycheck you can easily live without and consider setting up an automatic investment in a kiwi saver and/or other savings accounts.
5. Make sure you still enjoy yourself. Just because you’re not in your 20s anymore doesn’t mean you need to stop having fun. None of the money you work hard to make matters if you’re not enjoying life. Put that date in the diary to schedule a catch up with your girlfriends and stick to it.
It’s not a definitive list by any stretch of the imagination, but we hope that it puts in context some of what you may be going through or experiencing if you are in your 30s. We hope it may make you reconsider where to put your focus.
If you can think of any gems of advice, because you have lived and learned, we’d love to hear them.
