My thirties bucket list + what I want to focus on in 2021

If you read my last post (where I look back on my twenties!), you’ll know that I’m turning 30 this weekend! A milestone birthday and a new decade is a great time for dreaming big. But I’m also aware that it’s counterproductive to be running after 20 goals at once. I still stand behind the goal-setting formula of having one big goal for the year, quarterly targets based on that goal and then monthly and weekly effort-based goals.

As someone who is working on her business, my big goal for 2021 is very likely going to be a desired income for the year. However, rather than plucking an arbitrary number from thin air, that is then harder to commit to, I wanted to zoom out and think about what I want from my thirties. A “bucket list” of sorts, though I don’t really like that expression, as it implies I “kick the bucket” at the end!

Anyhoo, I have yet to come up with a better term, so read on for my thirties bucket list + which items I’m going to focus on in 2021!

How to create a bucket list for your thirties (or any other timeframe!)

To put this list together, I drew upon two main sources of inspiration. The first one is Erin May Henry’s free guide to living an extraordinary life. Erin is one of the five thought leaders I highlighted in a recent blog post. What is refreshing about her perspective on entrepreneurship and personal development is her emphasis on fun. Going through her guide helped me to pinpoint things I enjoy and things I don’t so I can prioritise the former and take care of the latter.

The other thing I did to create this bucket list is an exercise that Tim Ferriss suggests in The 4-Hour Work Week*. I will put a huge warning here: while some of his ideas are good, I personally find Tim Ferriss quite sleazy and arrogant. Some of the suggestions in his book are pretty unethical (e.g. get someone in a less affluent country to do all the work for you while you pay them a very low amount and take all the credit). With that warning behind us, he recommends listing five things you want to have, five things you want to be and five things you want to do. Make them all specific and add an estimate of the cost next to them and tadaaa that informs your income goals.

* Note: this blog post contains affiliate links. That means that if you follow a link marked with an asterisk and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work!

If you’re feeling stuck on establishing what you really really want (zigazig ah!), then check out my goal-setting bundle, which will guide you through a series of questions so you can gain clarity on what an amazing life looks like *for you*.

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My thirties bucket list

So here goes, my bucket list for my thirties (in alphabetical order because I started overthinking what order to put things in!):

• Be a growing entrepreneur. This is a bit vague, but what I mean by that is that I want to keep learning and investing in my business. So this might look like taking courses or investing in ads.
• Be financially independent: this is often defined as having enough passive income to meet all expenses. I’d like to shoot for paying our current mortgage off entirely, and then if we buy another house, earning enough money through say rental properties to pay for our mortgage and bills.
• Be healthy: this is quite vague, so I’ve turned into a daily intention, which is to (aim to) eat my Daily Dozen most days. By the way, if you want an easy meal plan that allows you to tick all your nutrient boxes: I made one! Now I need to get my bum in motion and actually make the smoothies!
• Buy a five (or more) bedroom house: this goes with the idea of having more kiddos. We currently have two bedrooms + an office, so not enough room for a big family!
• Buy a Land Rover Defender. It’s The Man’s dream car and it didn’t really take much to win me over too. I know it’s not the most environmentally-friendly car, but it would be great for going on adventures in as a family! I’m really not into cars, but I always notice Defenders driving past or parked at the side of the road.
• Do several epic runs. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been running throughout my twenties. But I’d like to do some fun and challenging ones through amazing landscapes (like the ones in my Epic Runs of the World* book!). I’ve also never pushed beyond the half marathon distance, so doing a marathon or an ultra would be pretty epic too!
• Feel proud of my home: this is a bit of a vague one, but I’ve made it more actionable by aiming to hire a cleaner. The Man and I have many things we’d rather do than clean, so it often gets left until the situation becomes unpleasant. I’d rather pay someone (fairly!) to do it and then not have to think about it / feel guilty about the state of our house.
• Get a new kitchen: our current one is a temporary one and having a proper refurb would make the house feel a lot more polished.
• Get a new sofa and a TV: I know, not a super sexy bucket list item. But I’d love to have a nice family room where we can all cosy up on a corner sofa and watch films from time to time.
• Go on a tropical (yoga) retreat. I love the idea of taking a week off, eating tropical fruit and taking care of my body and mind. Maybe something like the Eat Move Rest retreat in Costa Rica.
• Have a beautiful garden. It would be hard to define when I reach this, so maybe I could aim for a garden that I feel happy to entertain friends and family in + that produces a little bit of food for us.
• Have four children: this is very much still in negotiation with The Man… Subscribe here to stay in the loop and see who eventually “wins” haha! Just to clarify: I mean four children total, not Baby J + the one I’m expecting + four more!
• Have regular gatherings with friends and family. I was really quite bummed that I couldn’t organise a Halloween party this year (I love costume parties!). Which reminded me that it would be lovely to bring people together more often, whether that’s in our house or elsewhere. My immediate family live in France so once this whole “situation” is over, it would be nice to plan to travel there more often too.
• Own clothes I feel fab in. I’m currently working on my winter capsule wardrobe (you can find it here when it comes out!) and it reminded me that I’d like to occasionally treat myself to some beautiful clothes.
• Spend more than a month in Australia: maybe it’s because I like Australian podcasters / YouTubers, but in any case, I’ve planted this idea in my head that I want to visit Australia. It is obviously a huge country and quite far from where we live (!), so I’d like to take my time there and see several places (feel free to share suggestions in the comments!).
• Try new recipes. I often want to make this “a new recipe every week”, but then I feel like it adds pressure and takes some of the pleasure away. I’ve got my eye on a* few* cookbooks*, so follow me on Instagram to see what I try!

What I want to focus on in 2021

All the things in that list will probably not get achieved next year (!). For one, I don’t know what the travel restrictions will be like, but also I don’t really want to travel to say Australia with children who are still in the “naps and nappies” phase. I’ve narrowed down the list above to things that are achievable – but still ambitious – to aim for in 2021:

• Buy clothes I feel fab in;
• Eat my Daily Dozen most days;
• Get a new kitchen;
• Get a new sofa + TV;
• Hire a cleaner;
• Invest in business courses and ads;
• Make more effort to pay our house off (i.e. “overpay” the mortgage + put money aside to pay it off in a lump sum);
• Take care of the front of the house and the garden.

Not all of these things cost a lot of money. For example, we already receive fruit and veggies every week from Abel & Cole*, so I don’t need to add large amounts to my income goal to take care of eating my Daily Dozen. However I’d like to be very proactive with the mortgage, which would represent quite a bit of money.

Having done some advanced calculations (kind of!), I’ve come up with my provisional impossible goal for 2021: drumroll please… to make £100,000 in my business! That would allow for a great start on my thirties bucket list + paying taxes + putting some money aside as a safety net.

Back to you

Have you decided on a goal for 2021? If so, please share it in the comments below! If not, check out my goal-setting bundle here!

Do you have a bucket list? To stay in the loop of how I make progress on mine, subscribe below and you’ll get a bonus guide to three ways you may secretly be self-sabotaging your success. Think of it as a companion to help you make progress on those goals of yours, rather than, you know, scrolling on your phone and hoping for the best (we’ve all been there!).