If you're 18 you should be sidequestmaxxing

Sidequestmaxxing is the act of being on as many sidequests as possible, and I believe every 18-year-old should do this. You can experience the world, meet people, learn about new cultures and advance in your career just by going out of your comfort zone.

This is me, Elliot Lindberg, 18 years old on the 4th of September 2025, writing about my experience with going on sidequests and how it can make your life 100x more exciting. I'll kick this off with a question I often get: how have I managed to do so much at my age? I always reply that it’s not difficult as long as you have the will to learn and aren’t afraid of new experiences.

You need to be independent and be able to take your own initiatives. With these traits you're all set for going on sidequests, and should already consider going on one. If you feel like you are missing these traits, it's still OK - you can work on improving them. Having these traits will help you with much in life.

The best sidequests IMO are the ones you decide on last minute with the thought of "fuck it, why not?" before doing it. These are the kind where you clearly are going out of your comfort zone to do something insanely random but insanely exciting. hese are the moments that will make your life feel like a movie when you look back.

I live on a small island of 30k people in northern Europe between Sweden and Finland which essentially, in my world, makes every interesting action into a sidequest. And what I have realized is that the best way of ending up on sidequests is by putting yourself in uncomfortable situations & cold DMs. Connections, Connections, CONNECTIONS - It's what drives sidequests and is what you will get from it.

What are good sidequests?

Hackathons are good side quests as you can travel around the world, ship projects and meet new cracked people. I've been to multiple hackathons ever since I was 15 across many cities like London, Paris, and Brussels and enjoyed them all. As always, connections are very important in life, or probably even the most important thing. As your connections increase you will begin to grasp how interconnected everything really is. The world is really small in a sense.

My sidequests in China

When I went to China in June this year, I traveled there solo as a 17-year old with no expectations other than the beautiful skyline. I believe solo-traveling makes a whole trip into a side quest because you will end up on unbelievably many sidequests from it.

The first day when I arrived in China I quickly realized I had booked my hotel 1 day too late. That would normally be problematic but it wasn't because I had a friend I made at that hackathon in Brussels last year that happened to live in Shanghai that I could crash at, isn't that crazy? We vibed and then later celebrated my 18th birthday at the rooftop of a building in Lujiazui Shanghai, yet another sidequest which I will remember.

Another side quest was randomly visiting NYU, an american univeristy in Shanghai which was really random but awesome. I got a guided tour together with a group of around 12 other people (I think) around the campus, and daaaaaamn it was modern. They had everything from basketball courts, ping pong tables, classrooms, chill rooms, concert halls. To be honest, this might be the first university campus I ever visited, and as someone from a small island in northern Europe this was an insane sidequest. Most of my friends here will never even travel that far.

The day after my birthday I wanted to try out a club because "fuck it why not" and it would be fun if my first experience was across the globe. I had never been to a club before, and TBH they don't really excite me. Why I was excited about this is because I was in a new place, on a massive sidequest, had just turned 18 and I wanted to meet some new people. But I didn't just go to a random club by myself...

When I was scrolling through Chinese TikTok (Douyin), I came across a famous white guy from South Africa partying in Shanghai. I literally added his WeChat and asked if he knew about any parties that evening. That’s how I ended up meeting international students from all over the world in a random Shanghai club on a random Tuesday afternoon. They all assumed I was an international student too after hearing me speak Chinese, and were so fucking shocked when I told them I’m actually here traveling and I'm straight from Northern Europe hahaha. So I guess, you can literally just do things lmfao.

But the biggest side-quest (well more like a main timline quest) of 2025 was joining Lovable, from a cold email to shipping features together with a lovely team. And not just any team, probably the most cracked one in the whole of Europe, exactly what I like.

Conclusion

Sidequesting gives you connections.

I will keep sidequesting, and so should you too.