19 Super Tiny Rules to Upgrade Your Life
Simple habits to create an incredible life.
Photo by David Hurley on Unsplash
I believe life is a journey of continual learning and growth—and over the years, those countless lessons have led to many life rules that guide my actions.
Here are some of the best ones I’m confident will help you live a better, happier, more fulfilling, and healthier life (listed in no particular order). I hope they help you as much as they’ve helped me.
Learn More
- Don’t Judge By Beauty
“That which is beautiful is not always good. But that which is good is always beautiful.”
— Chinese proverb
Psychologically, we’re wired to favor attractive people. In fact, many people do anything for a pretty face — they’ll treat them better and admire them despite their obvious flaws.
Avoid this.
Learn the importance of real beauty and separate “good looks” from integrity.
- Train Yourself To Handle Discomfort
Doing uncomfortable things is, by definition, uncomfortable. (Duh.) But if you regularly expose yourself to stress, you’ll learn how to navigate those challenges successfully.
For example, I took icy cold showers for years to train myself to handle discomfort. The more I embrace discomfort, the more comfortable it becomes.
- Be Happy Alone
If you can’t be happy alone, you can’t be happy with other people.
Worse, you’ll end up seeking happiness from things outside yourself — things which you have no control over.
Learn to be your own source of joy and happiness. You won’t get tossed around by people’s (finicky) opinions of you, and you’ll feel an amazing liberation because you can do whatever you want without needing a partner.
- Protect Your Time
Time is the most valuable commodity: You only have so much before it’s gone, and you can never get it back.
That’s why it’s critical to protect your time—how you spend it and who you spend it with. If someone is dragging you down, distance yourself from them. It might sound selfish, but it’ll be one of the best things you’ll ever do for yourself.
- Don’t Out-Willpower Your Environment
Don’t fight your surroundings. Rather than gritting your teeth and bearing it, it’s far easier—and less mentally draining — to change your environment and surround yourself with something that makes success easy.
“The willpower approach doesn’t focus on changing the environment, but instead, on increasing personal efforts to overcome the current environment. What ends up happening? Eventually you succumb to your environment despite your greatest efforts to resist. The environment is more powerful than your internal resolve. As a human-being, you always take on the form of the environments you continually place yourself.”
— Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D.
- Don’t Display Your Philanthropy
Give because it’s the right thing to do or because you believe in the cause, not because you’ll “feel good” by doing it and subsequently letting everyone else know you’ve done it.
I’m not religious, but a certain religious dude (maybe you’ve heard of him?) puts it best:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them… when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others… when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
—Matthew 6:1–4
Give in secret and see what happens.
- Whatever You Demand From Life, Demand From Yourself First
If I want a fit partner, get fit.
If you want successful friends, become successful.
If you want an extraordinary life, do extraordinary things.
The best way to live is to seek from within first; then you’ll be the kind of person who gets those things automatically.
- When Getting New Clothes, Discard An Old One
This rule isn’t for everyone, but it prevents me from accumulating too much clutter and forces me to be intentional with every purchase.
Often, our possessions possess us, not the other way around. Reducing our attachment to belongings will liberate us because we’ll realize that we don’t need much to be content.
- Decide Faster
Many people struggle to make decisions that matter and get stuck in endless deliberation.
But the longer they wait, the longer it’ll take to get where they want to go.
Instead, be decisive—take action, free up mental energy, and stop getting bogged down. It doesn’t matter if you’re “wrong;” you won’t know until after you take action anyway. (Then, you can correct course.)
- “Don’t fail by default.”
This is from Richard Paul Evans.
Many people fail, not because someone said “no,” but because they assumed the answer is no and don’t even try.
Never ever do this. Give it a shot. Make them say no. You won’t die and you might be surprised at what happens.
- Never Wait to Speak Up
Whenever there’s an issue, speak up immediately. Don’t repress your resentment or wait for it to magically get better on its own. (It won’t.)
Say how you feel in a respectful way. (Try making “I-Statements” instead of “You-statements” and don’t make things personal.) That way, you’re taking ownership of your part, communicating transparently, and setting a precedent.
- Take Notes
Whenever you get a random thought, remember something you need to do, or have an idea, don’t “make a mental note”—always write it down.
Chances are you’ll forget. And even if you don’t, you’ll waste precious mental energy trying to keep it in your head.
“The palest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.”
— Chinese proverb
- “Never ask advice of someone with whom you wouldn’t want to trade places.”
This is from Darren Hardy.
If you’re getting advice from someone who’s never done what you want, it could take you down the wrong path (and you’ll end up just like them).
To get to where you want to go, ask people who have done it or have coached lots of people successfully.
- Never Tease People To Look Good
There are many people who tease others just to make themselves look better. But the funny thing is real “big shots” actually ignore other people’s blunders because they’re above it. It also protects the pride of others and makes them look like a class act.
“Cool communicators allow their friends, associates, acquaintances, and loved ones the pleasurable myth of being above commonplace bloopers and embarrassing biological functions. They simply don’t notice their comrades’ minor spills, slips, fumbles, and faux pas. They obviously ignore raspberries and all other signs of human frailty in their fellow mortals. Big winners never gape at another’s gaffes.”
— Leil Lowndes
- Never Pick Up Your Phone During an In-Person Conversation
We live in a world where it’s okay to interrupt people to read a text, answer the phone, or check social media.
I’m too “old school” for that.
Instead, show respect to the other person by giving them your undivided attention. Put the phone away or put it on Airplane Mode; you can always answer it later.
- Praise In Public, Criticize In Private
Never criticize someone in front of others — it doesn’t help them learn, it creates resentment, and it hurts their ego. Instead, take them aside, say what needs to be said, and move on.
As for praise, let everyone know that someone is doing a great job. Success begets success.
- Don’t Use Your Achievements/Titles/Etc. to Get Attention
This just caters to our approval-seeking tendencies.
In conversations, I avoid “glorifying” my accomplishments. It’s a good reminder that (1) no matter what, I’m equal to everyone else, (2) I’m not special, and (3) I want people to like me for who I am, not because of an inflated image.
- Avoid The News
How does it help me to know that someone got stabbed at 3 am in a city 300km from me? Or some politician did some crazy thing I don’t care about?
Most news is just stress and fear-mongering in the name of ad revenue. (I wish more people realize this.)
Sure, sometimes it’s important, but it’s extremely rare. (Then, one week later, we forget.) If I asked you to list the top news stories from today, you probably wouldn’t remember half of what you read.
Meanwhile, life keeps going.
- Never Check Email Or Social Media First Thing In The Morning
This is a cardinal sin of productivity.
It throws off your priorities, makes you scatterbrained, and creates non-existent mini-emergencies you have to put out. Now your mind is pulled in many different directions before you had a chance to get ready and do what’s most important to you.
Wait at least an hour. Trust me; you aren’t missing anything important.
CONTRIBUTED BY Anthony J. Yeung
Read More: 5 Things you Should not Postpone in your Life
Read More: 7 Rules for Self-Improvement (Please apply #4 now!}
-Advertisement-
We do everything possible to supply quality information for readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
