Photo by Orin Zebest

We are all seeking some kind of reason and meaning for life. We all want to be thought well of and indispensible to at least a few, if not many. Be sure to omit the following list from your habits, inner thought processes or daily practices… unless you want to lead an utterly miserable life! This is the kind of list to help you know just what habits you should drop in order to find greater meaning and happiness in your life.

Do NOT ever…

1. Be critical of others – it just sets a bad tone for your mood and it doesn’t do them any favors either. Remember a heart is a difficult thing to read – you don’t know what lies heavily on their hearts.

2. Be envious – just don’t waste your time and energy.

3. Avoid your daily exercise. Getting up and moving just makes your mind and body feel better, so give it a go.

4. Obsess about the future – it will come soon enough.

5. Obsess over the past – it’s done already – forget it and move on.

6. Be jealous and hateful when others succeed. It gives you worry lines and an upset stomach, and it’s just not nice.

7. Skip making a plan for your goals. Success really does come when you plan for it.

8. Be a workaholic. It’s bad for your health. It’s bad for your relationships. ‘Nuff said.

9. Insist on saying yes to everyone who asks you to do anything. You’ll stress yourself out if you do this.

10. Stay employed at a place you despise.

11. Be a complainaholic. It makes you unpleasant to be around and just makes you miserable.

12. Think that your only chance to make it is by winning the next multi-million dollar lottery.

13. Live your life expecting every little thing you do to be valued by everyone around you.

14. Give in to feelings of low self-esteem. Do realize that you are somebody, and you can be somebody great if you focus on that goal instead of anything you may feel inferior about.

15. Worry about all the bad things that might happen

16. Make a great plan but refuse to take the first step toward your goals.

17. Whine about your life to your friends constantly. We all need to vent, but it is possible to overdo it.

18. Refuse to lend a helping hand when asked. Does this one really need any explanation?

19. Go around thinking that all people are just creeps waiting to hurt you. Do learn that the world is full of good people, and since we attract what we love, work on loving and you will have great friendships.

20. Constantly get too little sleep. Bad idea, isn’t it?

21. Compare your good qualities to another’s bad habits.

22. Compare your bad qualities to another’s winning ways.

23. Act like you are the center of everyone else’s universe. Do notice that giving a little to get a little is a concept that works if you let it.

24. Only do easy stuff. No growth in that.

25. Get down on yourself all the time. Do recognize a mistake, work to correct it and move on. This is how we get rid of bad habits.

26. Dwell on everything in your life that is not the way you want it to be. Do change what you can and try to accept the rest.

27. Hold on to the criticism of others. Do let it go. Give yourself permission to be free of it.

28. Be a people pleaser ALL the time. Do know that you do deserve some time for you now and then.

29. Refuse to set goals to become a better you or to improve your circumstances.

30. Be full of gloom and doom about the state of the world. No one likes a constant sourpuss.

31. Think that junk food is the answer. The only thing it is the answer to is clogged arteries. It’s not friendly to your body, your waistline or your pocketbook. So skip it. Grab a banana.

32. Constantly make lists of all your worries and woes. Focusing on this can drive a sane person crazy.

33. Not believe in your dreams. This bad thinking is perhaps the reason why Thoreau said that most people “lead lives of quiet desperation.” So avoid it – giving up on your dreams will get you nowhere.

34. Avoid accountability.

35. Be a taker not a giver. This is a good way to lose, not gain friends.

36. Be sure to constantly be jealous of what others have. You’ll make yourself sad or angry if you go down this path.

37. Always wishing you were someone else.

38. Always wishing you were somewhere else.

39. Decide that the only option left is complete and utter misery. You’ll drown in your own waste if you do this.

40. Be a perfectionist with yourself. Do let yourself be free to make mistakes – it’s called growth.

41. Be a perfectionist with others. Do allow them to be human – they need to grow too.

42. Not count your blessings and be aware of all you have to be grateful for. This creates happiness, are you ready for it? Do give it a try.

43. Not give the best that is in you. How will you ever know unless you try? You could have myriad untapped talents and skills, so why not apply some effort?

44. Insist that everyone around you must constantly reaffirm what a great person you are. Do know that you’ll feel better about yourself if you reach out and validate them sometimes too. And they will feel better about you – guaranteed.

45. Allow others to use you as a door mat. You are a human being and deserve to be treated like one.

46. Nurse a grudge. It will give you a frowny face. No one likes a frown, so turn it around and SMILE.

47. Be a sponge for negative thinking. It just doesn’t lead anywhere to soak up all that negativity.

48. Think your life would be better if only…. Do make it better right now by doing something nice for someone.

49. Always distrust another’s motives. Being suspicious will just make you cranky. Do stop it.

50. Never accept another’s opinion. We do show that we are most mature when we open up to see things from a different point of view.

51. Imitate someone else because you don’t like who you are. Do appreciate your good points and work to create even more good points in your character.

52. Be adamant that others always do things your way. This is not exactly a way to win friends….

53. Judge others unceasingly. Everyone around you will be miserable if you do this – including you.

54. Insist that people who aren’t even your friends validate you. It’s not their job – this one is up to you.

55. Assume that life is pointless. Find something good to focus on instead.

56. Figure that if anything can go wrong it will, so why try? This will land you in the middle of nowhere.

57. Insist that everyone thank you multiple times for any nice thing you do. Do you thank them unceasingly? No? Well then, be more realistic.

58. Control everything around you.

59. Control everyone around you.

60. Be spiteful when someone else succeeds. Hey, if they can make it, you can too, so learn from the example.

61. Never forget what you don’t have. No here is a recipe for despair….

62. Refuse to give of yourself.

63. Always complain about your job – never think you are lucky to have a steady paycheck.

64. Insist that life must happen as you demand. This doesn’t work for anyone.

There you have it… 64 ways to ensure a miserable life. If you avoid these behaviors and attitudes then you will be opening yourself to what we all desire most: happiness. So stretch your soul, change any of these thinking traps you might fall into and open your arms wide to love the whole world and be loved back.

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This article was contributed by Margo Smith who graduated with a B.S. degree from BYU. She lives along the Wasatch Front and loves the beauty and solidity of the Rocky Mountains she calls home. She looks at the world around her when compiling articles about a variety of subjects from health careers to various ways to apply for pell grant to self-help articles.