The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now

by Meg Jay

Twentysomething jobs teach us about regulating our emotions and negotiating the complicated social interactions that make up adult life. Twentysomething work and school are our best chance to acquire the technical, sophisticated skills needed in so many careers today. Twentysomething relationships prepare us for marriage and other partnerships. Twentysomething plans help us think across the years and decades ahead. Twentysomething setbacks ready us for handling difficulties with our spouses and bosses and children. We even know that larger twentysomething social networks change our brains for the better as they require us to communicate with more and different others.