1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck
the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room
for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever impress yourself
to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the
people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand
beside you (or come visit you in jail) when you’re at your worst that are your
true friends.
2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no
person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them.
We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re
made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because
that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve
them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person
we become.
3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself.
Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult
chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the
process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.
Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow
your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.
5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being
yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will
always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be
younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be
yourself and the right people will love the real you.
6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you
keep re-reading your last one.
7. Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten
times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures
behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting
the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
8. Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong
things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help
us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have
struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes,
you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your
day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is
preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
9. Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things
that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our
passions.
10. Stop looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside,
you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You
have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with
someone else.
11. Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there
in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot
change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You
can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
12. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity
arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our
comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
13. Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong
reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It took me a
while to admit this in the last year of my 30 year marriage, but it is better
to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is
meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for
the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
14. Stop rejecting new relationships just because old
ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll
realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some
will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out
the best in you.
15. Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than
you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle
between YOU and YOURSELF only.
16. Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s
blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What is something I have
that everyone wants?”
17. Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift
your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand
everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on
those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that
eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation.
So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were
yesterday, and you will be.
18. Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting
yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you
did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin
my happiness forever.” Let go, find peace, liberate
your self! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you
too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
19. Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those
who refuse to raise theirs.
20. Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe
it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.
21. Stop doing the same things over and over without
taking a break. – The time to
take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what
you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to
distance yourself to see things clearly.
22. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look
back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will
be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to
you.
23. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it
rewards people who get things done. Who was the General that said, “It is far
better to have executed a good plan in two days, than a perfect plan in two
months?”
24. Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on
achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something
extraordinary.
25. Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t
always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove
that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other
people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your
tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
26. Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams
depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you
blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give
others power over that part of your life.
27. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you
out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole
world, but their world. So narrow your focus.
28. Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its
joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself
this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?”
If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
29. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking
is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning
with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and
you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
30. Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for
your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead
of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that
everyone else is missing.
