1) Avoid spending time with the wrong people

Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of us. If someone wants you in their life, they will make room for you. You should not have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist on yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. Remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

Don’t let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out.

2) Avoid putting your own needs on the back burner

The most painful thing is losing yourself in 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.

3) Don’t let others bring you down to their level

Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs. Don’t let others set your standard. Instead of being a poor imitation, be hundred percent original. Be yourself.

4) Don’t waste 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, what keeps your conscience clear.

5) Avoid running away from problems

Face them head on. 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.

Remember, no matter what your tests are, you are not too weak to fight.

6) Avoid 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. You can’t make it to second base with your foot on the first.

7) Avoid 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. But we are resilient enough to adapt quickly to new realities.

8) Don’t follow the path of least resistance

Life is not easy, especially when you plan to achieve something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.

9) Avoid doing the same things repeatedly 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. To get a different and a better result you need to do it differently.

10) Don’t be scared to commit mistakes

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 eventually leads towards success. You end up regretting the things you did not do far more than the things you did.

11) Avoid 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. Everything that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

12) Avoid 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.

13) Don’t blame others for your troubles

Everybody’s life is shaped by his destiny, which has now become his reality. We have only ourselves to blame for all the problems and sorrows that come in our lives which are the result of our own past karma. 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.

14) Avoid 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 the most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

15) Avoid trying to be someone you’re not

One of the greatest challenges in life is being ourselves in a world that’s trying to make us like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, smarter or 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.

16) Don’t try to compete with others

Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you. Each and every one of us has different physical, mental and intellectual capacities and capabilities. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Every time you perform try to outdo your own earlier performance.

Success is a battle between you and yourself only.

17) Avoid trying to make things perfect

The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists; it rewards people who get things done.

18) Don’t act 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 tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

19) Avoid worrying

“Worrying is like paying interest when it is not due. Worrying does not solve tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace.”

20) Avoid 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 assess you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

21) Avoid getting involved in relationships for wrong reasons

Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s 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.

22) Don’t try 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.

23) Avoid exclusively looking to others for happiness

No one and nothing in the external world can make you happy. 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; you have to discover happiness within you first, before you can share it with someone else.