30 Before 30 – Goals to Accomplish Before My 30th Birthday
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As of yesterday, I am officially 30 months away from my 30th birthday. While I’d like to think that this milestone won’t seem like a big deal, I have a feeling that in two-and-a-half years, I might feel differently. To preemptively make my 30th birthday a celebration rather than a commiseration, I’ve decided to make it all positive. With 30 goals to accomplish before 30, I’m hoping that I can look at my 30th birthday as a pathway forward to another awesome decade, rather than a window looking backward on a decade that could have been more awesome.
Whenever I accomplish one of these goals, I’ll be sure to add a post about it–so we can all celebrate together, and I can hopefully inspire you to start setting and accomplishing your goals too!
Travel Goals
- Finish the ‘Around the World’ calendar: Cairo, Moscow, Athens, Sydney, Tokyo, New York
- Swim in the Mediterranean Sea
- See Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog’s Day
- Take a Caribbean Cruise
- Scale a wall of the Grand Canyon (NB: on mule-back!)
- Hike Symphony Lakes Trail (Alaska)
- Bike to Eklutna Glacier (Alaska)
- Go swimming with dolphins
- Visit Africa
- Spend at least one month living abroad in the same place
Business Goals
- Get an article published in an outside publication, online (Completed 12/3/14)
- Get an article published in an outside publication, in print
- Have someone outside of my family pay for one of my canvas prints (Completed 1/22/15)
- Have my photography displayed in a gallery
- Purchase a new digital camera (Completed 12/8/14)
- Have 500+ email subscribers
- Run a print ad in a magazine for the site
- Purchase a new computer for work/travel
- Begin a long-term brand partnership (>1 year)
- Cross 5,000 Twitter followers (Completed 3/9/15)
Personal Goals
- Re-run my personal London 10k route
- Run my personal Seattle 10k route
- Plan and execute the ultimate destination 30th birthday party
- Pay off all my credit card debt and pay down the rest of my car
- Begin writing a book of short stories, memoirs, etc.
- Become a dual-citizen with Croatia
- Become intermediate to proficiently fluent in a foreign language
- Sell one of my canvas paintings
- Invest >$1000 in a new professional & travel wardrobe
- Buy a really, really nice set of sheets
Do you have any big milestones coming up? What goals have you set, if any?

10 Comments
Malia Yoshioka
Cool! I’m a big fan of lists and I actually did a 30 before 30 as well! I blogged it my30before30 (dot) wordpress (dot) com. It was fun picking out things to take myself out of my comfort zone! Good luck with your list! =)
Valerie
Malia, I love your 30 Before 30 site! It’s super inspirational, and really helpful for me to think about how I should write about mine! Thanks for sharing it 🙂
Lea Grbavac
Liked it. I’m almost 20 so I should make a list too 🙂 It’s funny how you have a goal for swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and I’m swimming in it my whole life and obviously don’t appreciate it enough. I live in Croatia, we’re small but have over 1,000 islands. I don’t know if you heard anything about it, but it’s a beautiful country and I suggest you come and see 🙂
Valerie
Lea, hello! Thanks so much for commenting all the way from Croatia! I am half Croatian and would LOVE to come visit! What area of the country are you in?
I like lists because they help me keep focused and know if I’m accomplishing my goals. If you make a list, please share it with me, I’d love to see 🙂 Maybe yours will include ‘swimming in the Pacific Ocean,’ which is right next to me here in Seattle 😉
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Drew
This is such a great list! It makes me want to do the same, as I just turned 30 this year.
Valerie
You should, Drew! Any age is a good one to set goals for the upcoming year(s)! Thanks for reading!
Tanja / The red phone box trav
number 26?! :)) aahhh I just scrolled down and saw why!:)
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