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When I was 20, I had my very first psychotherapy client. At that time, I was a volunteer in the psychological consultation room of our school. She was a 21-year-old girl named Alex. Alex walked into the room and told me she was there to talk about guy problems. when I heard this, I was so relieved. I got a twentysomething who wanted to talk about boys. This I thought I could handle.But I didnt handle it. With the funny stories that Alex would bring, it was easy for me just to nod my head while we kicked the can down the road. Thirtys the new 20, Alex would say, and as far as I could tell, she was right. Work happened later, marriage happened later, kids happened later, even death happened later. Twentysomethings like Alex and I had nothing but time.But before long, my supervisor pushed me to push Alex about her life. I pushed back.I said, Sure, shes dating down, but its not like shes going to marry the guy.And then my supervisor said, Not yet, but she might marry the next one. Thats what we call an Aha! moment. That was the moment I realized, 30 is not the new 20. Yes, people settle down later than they used to, but that didnt make Alexs 20s a developmental downtime. That made Alexs 20s a developmental sweet spot, and we were sitting there blowing it. That was when I realized that this sort of neglect was a real problem, and it had real consequences, not just for Alex and her love life but for the careers and the families and the futures of twentysomethings everywhere. Were talking about 15 percent of the population, or 100 percent if you consider that no ones getting through adulthood without going through their 20s first. I focus on twentysomethings because I believe that every single one of those twentysomethings deserves to know that claiming your 20s is one of the simplest, yet most transformative things you can do for work, for love, for your happiness, maybe even for the world. This is not my opinion. These are the facts. We know that 80 percent of lif