Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four: The Defining Decade

The full title of Dr. Meg Jay's book does a great job of summarizing its contents: The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now.  The author is a clinical psychiatrist who works primarily with clients in their twenties and early thirties, and from this work she claims (credibly, it seems to me) to have noticed a lot about what makes twenty-somethings successful (or not) in their twenties and also for the rest of their lives.  She paints the decade of one's 20s as being formative for the rest of one's life in terms of pretty much everything--work, career, and family are her areas of focus.  While this sort of turned up the pressure on me while I was reading--like, I have to get everything together before I run out of time--she also offers practical and achievable suggestions for how to get everything together, and these made me feel better.  (Figure out what you want.  If you don't know, try different things that will help you figure it out.  Don't take jobs with no possibility of advancement if you want to advance in your field.  Once you know what you want, take steps to make it happen, like going to school, or getting an entry-level job in the field of your choice, or moving to another city.)  I don't know how much value there would be to reading this book if you're not in your 20s--it might still be interesting--but if you're in your 20s now, I'd heartily recommend you read it.  (In fact, it was recommended to me by a friend, also in her 20s, and I'm very glad she suggested it!)