25 Life Goals by Age 25 | Goals for Your Early 20s

These life goals to achieve by age 25 are here to inspire and motivate your own goals for your 20s.

As some in their early 20s, I know how overwhelming it can be to look ahead. Your 20s are filled with huge changes and tons of growth. This can be scary – but it can also be really exciting.

As I sat down last night for my nightly journaling session, I felt this overwhelming pull to set some goals for the first 5 years of my 20s. By age 25, I have some concrete things I hope to achieve.

These 25 goals to reach by 25 are straight from my own personal goal journal. But that doesn’t mean these 25-year-old goals can’t still inspire and encourage you.

Gain inspiration from my own list of goals to achieve before 25 in order to build your own list, geared towards your own life, circumstances, passions, and dreams.

I have separated my “25 Goals By 25” list into four main categories:

• Adventure
• Everyday Life
• Career
• Happiness

These categories seem to encompass all of the major goal-setting areas in my life. Let’s go ahead and jump right into my 25 goals for age 25.

25 Goals to Accomplish by 25

Adventure Goals by 25

1. Travel Solo

I have never in my life taken a solo trip. That is a huge goal I want to accomplish before I turn 25.

Traveling alone has so many benefits: more freedom to do what you want to do, fewer costs, more opportunities to make new friends, spending time with yourself, etc.

Most of all, I want to travel solo to boost my self-confidence, know myself better, and get more comfortable on my own. Many people report feeling more independent and confident after solo travel. This is something I would love to experience.

I am an introvert at heart, yet I almost always am surrounded by people. Because of this, I have never really had the opportunity to fully rely on, trust, and experience being by myself.

Traveling 100% solo feels like a great opportunity to fully embrace life alone, relax, and freely explore a new place and new opportunities.

2. Run a 10k

I am currently training for a 5k. Ultimately, I want to run a half marathon. A 10k run feels like a perfect in-between goal for the current phase of life.

Within the next few years (before I turn 25), I want to run in a 10k. Specifically, I want to run a 10k for a cause I am passionate about: mental health, ED recovery, domestic violence, etc.

I love to run and one of my goals by 25 is to participate in an organized 10k run.

3. Spend a Month Away

Taking a week-long vacation is one thing… taking a month-long (or more) trip is another. I want to fully embrace the lifestyle of another place. This is something that I just cannot do in a week. (Honestly, I don’t think a month is long enough either but it’s better than a week!)

A goal before I turn 25 is to take a month-long trip to a place I want to get to know. Ultimately, this trip may be an introduction to a longer stay or a potential move. I want to take long trips in order to hopefully find the place I want to settle eventually.

Some of my ideas for month-long trip destinations:

• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Colorado
• Tennessee
• Michigan
• Illinois
• Central California

If you live in any of these areas, leave a comment letting me know tips and tricks for when I come!

4. Take a Road Trip

A road trip is a definite bucket list item for my 20s. In fact, it’s one of my main goals by age 25.

As a Washington state girl, I plan to take a road trip down the West Coast. Along the way, I want to make stops in Oregon and California. Hopefully, I can even find places along the way to explore for a day or two.

I’ve gone for minor road trips before, but never anything longer than a couple of days. For this road trip goal, I want to commit to a couple of weeks of driving and exploring new places.

5. Stay a Tiny House Airbnb

Staying in cute Airbnbs, in general, is a goal of mine by age 25… but specifically a TINY HOUSE Airbnb.

Every time I go on the Airbnb website, I find myself exploring tiny homes. They are so cute, cozy, and trendy. I’m obsessed.

Tiny house Airbnbs are also perfect for a solo trip. Maybe I’ll combine goal #1 and goal #5 here. 😉

Lifestyle Goals by 25

6. Buy a House

Starting with a big one here. Buying my own home is a huge goal for age 25. It’s going to take a lot of work (and money-saving), but I totally think it’s doable if I try.

25 is still relatively young for buying a forever home… but this is one of my goals by age 25. Enough said. If I can dream it, I can do it! 🙂

7. Establish Good Credit

This is kind of a “boring” adult-y goal, but it is important (especially if I want to accomplish my previous goal by 25)!

I have just recently started building my credit and, over the next few years, I want to learn more about how to build good credit and do it!

This is a goal of mine that isn’t particularly exciting, but I know it will help me achieve my other, more exciting goals.

8. Fall in Love

This is a fun goal for age 25! Who doesn’t want to experience being in love, right?

I don’t want to put too much pressure on this or anything… I’m not going to commit to the goal of finding a husband. But I do want to experience deep love in my early 20s. I think it could be pretty awesome to navigate my way to 25 with someone special by my side.

9. 50k in Savings

Another money goal! Building up my savings is another goal that just feels smart to me. While it may not be the most exciting at the moment, I think that saving money can be a really great habit to start in your 20s.

If I end up buying a home and starting my life alone, having a solid savings account will help me feel more secure and financially stable in my life.

10. Give Back

One of my biggest goals by age 25 is to give back to a cause I care about. This can be done in so many different ways: donating, volunteering, working, etc…

Whatever it may look like, by the time I am 25, I want to feel confident that I have made a difference – specifically in a cause that is close to my heart.

As of now, I have some things lined up to help give back to mental illness and eating disorder recovery communities. I’m not sure where else I will focus, but I do know that I want to help others wherever I can.

11. Dogs

I already have my first little fur baby. She’s my whole world!

I’m intentionally leaving this goal pretty open-ended. (“Dogs” feels pretty broad… LOL!)

I don’t know if I have more dogs in my future or if this goal will be to just give my sweet pup the best, happiest, and healthiest life possible! As of now, she has all my attention and, no matter if I add to the dog family or not, dogs will be a huge part of my life in my 20s. I wanted to set aside a goal for the pups in my heart.

12. Stay Close with my Family

As I write this, I am happy to say that I have a pretty tight-knit and loving family. We are all so close, geographically and emotionally. I would love to maintain that.

Some of my goals by age 25 include a lot of travel and, potentially, moving far away. No matter where I end up geographically, I hope to remain close and connected with my immediate family. They are my world!

13. Have Good Friends

Supportive, encouraging, and uplifting friends are a must. One of my goals by age 25 is to have solid and positive friends. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity in regard to relationships.

Having really meaningful and deep friendships, no matter how many, is important to me. Friendships enrich our lives, benefiting our mental health, happiness, and overall well-being.

Cultivating strong friendships is definitely worth including on this list of goals by 25.

Career Goals by 25

14. Support Myself Financially

As I continue towards that mid-20s marker, I want to become more and more financially independent. By the time I am 25, it is my goal to be able to 100% support myself on my own income.

This seems like a big – yet achievable – goal for me. Financially free by 25. Let’s do it.

15. Own My Own Business

While this is technically already true (Authentically Del LLC is all mine!), I would like to see my own business start to shift over into my main source of income. Slowly but surely, my business has been growing financially. It’s my goal by age 25 to have my own business be my leading source of income.

With that, I want to continue to grow Authentically Del… which leads me to my next goals for age 25.

16. Take Blogging Full-Time

(You being here is getting me one step closer to achieving this one. Thank you. Truly!)

My passion is writing. It always has been. I joke that I have been a writer since the womb.

Because of my deep love and passion for writing, I have been working overtime to try to build my blog into a career. I know it is possible from the many, many six- and seven-figure bloggers out there. I want that goal to become my reality.

Right now, I’m putting in all the hours on the blog while working full-time (and just finished school! Woohoo!). I’ve been taking the best blogging courses, learning SEO, and mastering Pinterest trying to grow my blog to be a full-time business.

It’s hard work but I know it will pay off! (Hopefully by age 25 😉 )

17. Start a Podcast

As part of my solo business, I would LOVE to expand into the podcast world. I listen to so many incredible female-run podcasts – many from women around my age. These ladies inspire me so much!

Podcasting is such a great way to inspire and touch other people – something I hope to do. I’d love to branch out and explore a podcast in the next few years!

18. Become a Recovery Coach

I’m super excited to say that I start my certification to become an eating disorder recovery coach in just a few weeks! It’s so crazy and amazing to me that I can have the opportunity to take my passion and turn it into work.

As one of my goals by age 25, I want to have some of my own clients. The idea of being able to personally connect with and help someone struggling makes me emotional just thinking about it. I seriously hope that I can make that a reality in the coming years.

19. Start Writing a Book

This sounds crazy – hear me out. I have been dreaming of being an author since the 1st grade. No joke. I used to write “novels”, print them out, draw covers on construction paper, and staple them together for my family.

Now that I feel that I have found my passion in life (helping others navigate life, pressures, mental health, etc.), I have a huge goal of eventually writing my own book.

I don’t want to be too ambitious and set myself up to fail. So for this goal by age 25 (that’s just 4 years…), I want to be working on a book. Not complete, not published, just in the works. I don’t want to give up that dream!

20. Have a Fulfilling Career

If I can accomplish any of the previous career goals by age 25, this one will be checked off automatically – double whammy!

Basically, I just want to work a job that feels fulfilling in more ways than just finance. Money is great, but deep fulfillment is what I hope for. If I can make a living doing what I am passionate about, I will have won.

Mental Health Goals by 25

21. Have Complete Food Freedom

Food freedom is something that is a constant goal for me. After dieting and developing an eating disorder, this is not something that comes naturally to me. I have made tons of progress but my relationships with food, exercise, and body image are not where I want them to be.

Within the next couple of years, I will be taking on the role of a recovery coach and I want to be solid in my own life first. To be able to help others, I know I must help myself first. This is a huge goal for me.

22. Positive Social Media Only

When I first wrote these goals by age 25, I wrote: “limit social media”. But, for some reason, that didn’t feel right to me. I don’t necessarily think limiting is my goal. Instead, I want to create a positive relationship with social media.

Unfollowing accounts that cause harm or negative comparison, following positive and uplifting accounts, and being honest about my relationship to social media – that’s my goal.

{RELATED POST: 10 Negative Effects of TikTok | Is TikTok All Bad?}

I don’t think social media is bad, but I know that it can be. With some close attention and care, I know I can make social media a positive and complimentary thing in my life. I’m making that a goal by age 25 – positive social media only.

23. Read Lots of Books

I’ve already told you about my love of writing… my love of reading is a close second.

When life gets busy though, I tend to fall out of practice with reading. Only recently did I make it a new monthly goal to read every night. I don’t necessarily follow through every night, but I’ve been reading 4-5 nights a week. It’s made a huge difference in my mental health.

{RELATED POST: 20 Books to Read When Single in Your 20s}

In one month, I read 3 books! It’s crazy! It’s such a simple practice, but reading regularly is SO good for you – mentally, physically, emotionally, etc.

I want to continue this and, by the time I’m 25, I will have read a ton of books. So cool to think about all the words I have yet to read!

24. Unconditional Self-Love

Self-love is an ongoing journey. “Achieving” self-love doesn’t feel like a super realistic goal since I think that it is something that you never have to stop working for. It’s more of a lifelong commitment to self.

That said, I do think that you can be actively practicing self-love on a daily basis. That is what I hope to achieve… THAT is the goal for me by age 25. Self-acceptance and unconditional self-love.

25. Be Happy

Above all, I want to feel happy in my life. Happiness, much like self-love, doesn’t feel like something you “achieve” and have forever. However, I want to get to a place where I feel happiness more often than not.

I want to live a life that routinely makes me smile, to go through my days feeling fulfilled, and to be able to genuinely say that I feel joy in my life.

That is the ultimate goal after all, isn’t it? If we aren’t happy, none of the other things really matter, right?

Work with me as we build a life we love. We both deserve it.

What are your goals by age 25?

Or 30? 35? 40? For life?

This post was filled with my own personal goals for 25 years old, but I hope that it helped inspire or encourage you to set your own goals.

I love talking about goals. Leave me a comment below so I can cheer you on and support you through your own goals.

Stick with me and I’ll check back in a few years to see how many of these goals I’ve crossed off at age 25. Fingers crossed. 😉

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