May/080
5 Ways to Be a Better Person
I don’t really like to “toot my own horn” as my mother would put it, but a lot seems to be going well in my life right now, as opposed to a year ago when hardly anything went down the way I wanted. So, I stopped and asked myself what did I do, how am I different from over a year ago, whats changed? I came up with five things that I think can be used by anyone to become a better person.
1. Slow down and listen
When you slow things down in your life, you start to notice things that you ordinarily skip over and take for granted. When you take the time to listen to what people have to say, they will take the time to listen to you. Relationships are like this, they are give-take. Slowing down and listening to what others have to say helps extraordinarily when you are dealing with the opposite sex. It seems that girls really do care about what you have to say when you care about what they have to say, who knew?
2. Don’t procrastinate
Putting things off to the last minute is probably the easiest way to mess things up. Weather it be a research paper, an oil change, or an anniversary gift, when you put something off to the last minute, it hardly ever goes as planned. The worst part about procrastination, we all know it’s bad, but we still do it never-the-less. When you start prioritizing your goals and planning things out better, you will find that you not only have more time, but that you also get more done in the time you set aside for things. You will see your grades rise, the love from your man/lady, and maybe even your paycheck!
3. Speak your mind
I found out just recently that even though people will listen to what you have to say, you still have to say it. I used to hold my tongue all the time because I thought that people either didn’t want to hear what I had to say or that they would take what I had to say in the wrong way. Now I know that it is better to get things out there in the open and avoid potential relationship “nuclear meltdowns” that occur when people keep things to themselves. What happens when a volcano builds up a butt-load of magma ? It erupts. Words are just like that.
4. Trust your instincts
This is one of the more important points on this list. No one will ever give you the answer to a problem in life so how are you supposed to be decisive in areas of your life when it matters? You trust your instincts. Most of the time the first answer on a test that you choose is normally the best answer, so why do you go back and check over it? All you do is create doubt and confusion in yourself and that is defiantly worse than being mildly confident in your answer. Maybe it is because I am from the south and we all have a certain kind of swagger around here that allows me to be confident, but I see people all the time sit around and let an opportune moment pass them by because they didn’t trust their instincts.
5. Love the people around you
Like Will Ferrel says in Semi-pro, “Everybody love Everybody.” It’s his only rule. When you love everyone around you, you are more inclined to go out of your way to help them which means they will be more inclined to go out of their way to help you when you need it. It’s not hard to show that you care for someone, just be there when they ask you to, help them with their schoolwork, or maybe even lend some money to a friend in need. There are thousands of other ways to help the people around you, and no two people need help in the same way, unless of course you are giving free gas, then help me!