20 Simple Strategies For A Better You
If anything at all, reading lists of other people’s life strategies should only spark you to think of your own, not pressure you to adopt theirs.
This is a list of strategies I’ve picked up in my travels. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about lists like these is that the reader often thinks the writer is trying to get people to live by the tips and guidelines on the list. Maybe that is the intention of some people who make lists like these, but that is not the intention of this one. If anything at all, reading lists of other people’s life strategies should only spark you to think of your own, not pressure you to adopt theirs.
1. Always say hello.
Everything begins with this simple greeting and it can lead to a million different things.
2. The big things are disguised as little things; the little things are disguised as big things.
3. Be able to recognize when something is gone.
When you do, move on accordingly.
4. “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on fire.”
St. Catherine of Siena said that.
5. Whether you were too late, too early, or right on time, life always has perfect timing.
Eventually you will understand why it happened the way it did.
6. The more you are able to see other people as fascinating, the more exciting everyday life will be.
7. Somewhere inside you there will always be the person you were at your best moment.
8. We waste way too much time chasing people.
If someone wants to be in your life, nothing can deter them; if someone has no interest in being in your life, nothing can convince them. Stop chasing.
9. Never make someone choose between you and something else.
You will end up disappointed every time. I’m not saying they will choose the other thing over you every time. This mindset is just setting you up for disappointment, sooner or later.
10. Everything that happens to you is yours.
Tell your stories and learn from them.
11. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
A lot of people think this is unfair. That may or may not be the case, but regardless of fair or unfair I definitely think it is true. Meet people.
12. Confidence is at least half the battle.
No matter what you are trying to do, barring ridiculous extremes, if you do it confidently it won’t be awkward.
13. Show up.
Do things. Gain experiences. It puts you ahead.
14. There is nothing wrong with doing pointless or unnecessary things if they mean something to you, if you find value in them.
There is a lot wrong with wasting time, and with only doing what is necessary.
15. If we bask in the gifts of others and enjoy each person’s talent with them, we will not only be happier, but we will begin to notice we have a heck ton of friends.
16. What you were born to do is the thing you are already doing and have been doing all along.
We search long and hard to try and identify the thing we were “made for,” but it is truly what is right in front of us – it is the thing we have been dabbling in since childhood, the thing we are doing in the 20 minute wait between classes, the thing we rush home to do because it is our comfort and what we have always enjoyed. That is what we were born to do, look no further.
17. “You can lead a horse to water…”
Forcing people to do things usually doesn’t accomplish anything. People will act a certain way when their own experience causes them to draw the conclusion that it will benefit them to act that way. No amount of dragging someone somewhere will amount to them liking it, unless they come to that liking on their own, but that would have happened with or without having been dragged, and more likely without.
18. You’ve heard this a million times I’m sure, but when we compare ourselves to others it is totally unfair to ourselves because in doing so we are assuming that the person we are comparing ourselves to has everything we have plus the thing that we envy about them.
What we don’t realize is that they probably don’t have everything we have – we would inevitably be giving something up in order to be them.
19. I’ve been told that writing something every day, regardless of what it is, is “rocket fuel” for success.
I’m not sure if that’s true but I like the idea of it. It probably doesn’t have to be writing, either. It just has to be, whatever it is you do.
