Groom Your Beard

For some of you, this means merely keeping that peach fuzz down, because you’re 30 now, and if it still hasn’t come in, chances are you’re a babyface. Be happy. Those who are more hirsute should have the proper trimmer, guides and product to ward off beard-druff and keep your whiskers healthy.

Make and Follow a Budget

It’s no longer the beginning of your career, and how you invest your money matters. You might be pulling down a higher salary, but as an adult, it’s best to plan your spending instead of just switching from light beer to craft. Having a plan and knowing you’re saving money is a liberating thing, and with the apps available today, it’s easy.

Cook a Signature Dish

Eating is a big part of living well, and by now, hopefully, you’ve learned some of the best meals you’ll ever have won’t come from a restaurant. Having friends or loved ones cook for you is one thing, but putting a quality dish out for them is an even better feeling. Your lady friend will appreciate it, too.

Work Specifically on Your Car

By 20 you should be able to change a tire and fix a headlight. At 30, it’s time to get a little more advanced. Learn how to do specific things for your own car. For example, putting a good bleed on a set of brakes isn’t tricky, but you’ve got to have the space, tools and knowledge to do it. If you want to bring the bottom line on that budget up, it’s an excellent skill to have.

Tie a Tie in Different Ways

This one is a must. By 20 you should have the basics down, but look around at the young men you see wearing ties and ask yourself how committed that demographic is. Here are 18 different ways, all giving you a unique look. It only takes a few minutes to learn, so why wait?

Rig a Fishing Pole

Doomsday preppers love to talk about how you should have something stashed away you can easily convert into a fishing rod to catch food when it all goes to shit. That’s cute, but it’s a lot more practical if you just use the kind of rod-and-reel setup you can buy at Big 5. It’s more fun, too.

Streamline Your Wardrobe

At this point, you should have a well-established sense of personal style. If your workplace has a more casual dress code, you don’t need too much fancy stuff. If you spend five days a week in a suit and tie, piles of T-shirts are just going to take up space. Donate the clothes you don’t wear so others can get some use out of them and you have clean, easy-to-find outfits every day.

Negotiate

You’ve probably made a few career moves by this time, and as you progress, you’ll have more leverage when it comes to compensation. Play your cards right, and you could be socking away significantly more than the top brass want to offer right off the bat. Learn to do your homework ahead of time, and enter negotiations prepared to execute a good compromise. It’s a skill that will serve you in and out of the office.

Order a Bottle of Wine

Leave the IPA for football games and dive bars. If you’re out to dinner, you should be able to make sense of what’s on the wine list and how it will pair with what you’re ordering. Drinking good wine is the best way to get to know it, but if nothing else, come to understand the differences between white and red, and common grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Convert Time Zones

If you’re a traveler, this is a helpful skill, but ultimately it is more useful in business than anything else. The world is a smaller place than ever thanks to technology. Working across borders using the Internet can be liberating, but you will miss a lot of meetings if you can’t make sense of Greenwich Mean Time and calculate what time it is where you’re calling.

Start a Fire

There’s not much better than lighting a fire on your own and seeing it grow. From a campfire to lighting up the grill, there are right and wrong ways to start a fire. Don’t be the guy that tosses a match onto a puddle of lighter fluid that bursts into flames. Take some time to figure out how to do it right.

Give a Presentation

Want to make all those 20-something direct reports think you’re invincible? Get up in front of the company and nail your quarterly presentation. That’s different from winging it, though. You have to get this right, and that means learning a few tricks about eye contact, memorization and public speaking in general. The practice will not go to waste.

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