Do you look to a close relative, a patient friend, or a chosen mentor? Or do you look to books written by people whose advice you’ve learned to trust? I hope you’re open to receiving helpful insights from all these sources. We gathered the advice for this article from a variety of experts and distilled them into the 21 best pieces of life advice listed below. May you find them as useful as we have.
21 Of The Best Pieces of Life Advice
The best life advice comes from those who’ve learned how to live. They’ve learned how to avoid regret, make the most of the good, and turn everything that might have been negative to their benefit. And when you know what they do, you can do the same.
1. “Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.”
If you refuse to accept that someone has injured or offended you, the injury itself ceases to exist (except perhaps in the minds of others). You have the power to choose to let go of things that don’t really matter in the long run. You also have the ability to see the best in someone even when they don’t show you their best side.
2. “No one but you gets to decide how much you can handle.”
No one else can tell you how much energy you have or how much more you should be doing with the energy you have. On the flip side, if someone else thinks you should be unaffected by something, their inability to see what you feel doesn’t obligate you to conform to what they believe.
3. “Those who pass judgment on you reveal more about themselves than about you.”
Some people will look for reasons to hate you or to write you off as a bad person or unworthy. You can acknowledge your wrongs, apologize for them, and make whatever restitution you can, and still, they’ll refuse to let go of their contempt. What they don’t realize is that you’ve already freed yourself and moved on, while they insist on remaining stuck and preventing their own growth.
4. “Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?”
Truly happy people aren’t those who never experience pain or suffering. Bad things happen to everyone, but those whose overall experience of life is positive have learned to make even painful experiences work to their benefit. They’ve learned to accept even apparent setbacks as gifts that can teach them something they needed to learn.
5. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
The overall tone of your thoughts determines the overall tone of your day — as well as your week, your month, your year, etc. Change your thoughts, and you change your life.
6. “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
You can’t control what happens to you or to other people. But you can control how you respond to those things. You decide whether or not to be a victim, and you decide what to do to make the best (or the most) of it.
7. “Have the courage to live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect of you.”
You’re the one responsible for the choices you make, and you’re the one who stands to lose the most by not making the most of your gifts. You have enough courage to face the truth of who and what you are and to create a life in agreement with that truth. And you’re the one who’ll regret it the most if you hold back out of fear of what other people think.
8. “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
All of us make stupid mistakes — sometimes out of weakness or because we didn’t take the time to see the whole picture before reacting or jumping in with both feet. But assuming that someone’s stupid decision came from malice or is proof of a bad character only blinds you to the good in them. And it makes it impossible to make the most of the good in yourself.
9. “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” (Ernest Hemingway)
If your happiness depends on your feeling superior to others (intellectually, morally, etc.), you’re your own worst enemy. Why you might mature at a faster rate than some of your fellow humans, you will never be superior to another person. Focus instead on improving your own character and making progress toward becoming the person you want to be.
10. “Remember you’ll always regret what you didn’t do rather than what you did.”
You’re more likely to regret opportunities you didn’t take than the stupid mistakes you made — or even the risks you took that resulted in apparent disaster. At least in the latter cases, you did something rather than stick to what was normal and safe for you. No one grows and develops by staying in their comfort zone.
11. “You’d worry less about what people think of you if you knew how seldom they do.” (David Foster Wallace)
People have their own lives to live and their own issues to work on. If they spend any time thinking of you, it’s not likely to be much (unless they’re obsessed with you). So, stop worrying about what other people think of you. Stop stressing over what they might think of something you said or did. Chances are, they’ve already forgotten.
12. “If the grass is greener on the other side, there’s probably more manure there.”
If someone else’s life looks better than yours — if they seem happier and more fulfilled — it’s likely because they’ve put in a lot of effort and hardship to get there. You don’t see what they’ve suffered or what they’ve had to overcome to get to where they are now. Focus instead on laying a foundation of gratitude for the life you want. Be open and receptive to the blessings and the challenges that come your way, so you can make the most of both.
13. “Happiness is a choice, and everything else is a matter of perspective.”
Your happiness depends on you and no one else. Spending time with those you love might make you feel happier, but it’s not up to them to make sure you feel happy all the time. You can look at your life through the lens of a growth mindset, or you can choose to see the negative side of everything.
14. “If you blame it on someone else, don’t expect it to get better.”
Once you blame a problem on someone else, you see it as their responsibility to fix it or to make up for it. And that means the only “action” you’ll take in response to that problem is to complain about it. If we’re all connected, there will be threads that lead from that problem right to you. So, instead of blaming and complaining, look for ways to make things better for all of you.
15. “Don’t make decisions when you’re angry; don’t make promises when you’re happy.”
When you’re angry, give yourself a chance to cool down and reflect before you make a life-changing decision. When you’re floating on a cloud of love or excitement and tempted to promise someone the world, give yourself some time to come back to earth. Moments of intense emotion are not ideal for making commitments or drastic changes.
16. “Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
You’ve no doubt been told to think before you open your mouth. But what can you do to help yourself think more clearly so that when you do open your mouth, you speak with intelligence? The more you read, the more you learn from others who’ve dealt with similar situations. And the more likely you are to see the fuller picture before you say something about it.
17. “Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it or change it.” (Chuck Palahniuk)
Whatever you do and whatever you have, find joy in it and remember to be grateful for it. If all you do is complain about the difference between your life as it is now and the life you want, you’re acting as though you can do nothing to change it. And if you don’t see the good in your life as it is now, you’re likely to lose it.
18. “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” (Benjamin Franklin)
Nothing ruins the words, ‘I’m sorry” like the word “but” (and everything that comes after it). It’s one thing to refuse to apologize because you sincerely believe your actions had no effect on them. But if your actions did harm someone, the right thing to do is to apologize to those you’ve hurt without making excuses for yourself.
19. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” (Abraham Lincoln)
You don’t need to be a fortune teller or a psychic to improve your future prospects. But you can’t expect success to happen spontaneously. If you want a happy, successful life, you have to do the work to make it happen. You can envision what you want for the future, but if you want that future to materialize, you need to take action today to make your dreams a reality.
20. “You can’t control other people’s actions, but you can control your reaction to them.”
You can’t control what other people do or say. But you can control how you react and what you do or say in response to them. And you’re the only one who can control your response. You don’t get to blame someone else if you lose your temper or act on impulse. That’s on you. And other people’s words and actions are on them. Don’t take on more responsibility than you need to. It’s enough of a challenge to keep yourself under control.
21. “Forgive and let go.”
No matter what someone has said or done that has hurt you, you get to decide whether to hold onto your anger or to let it go and move on. If the word “forgive” has a negative connotation for you, try simply telling yourself you have nothing against the person who said or did those things. You sincerely want good things for them (not plagues, death, dishonor, etc.). Just letting go of your desire to punish them goes a long way toward helping you heal and move forward.
Did you find some good life advice in these tips?
Now that you’ve looked over these 23 pieces of good advice for life, which ones stood out to you? Are there any you’ve already adopted and lived by? And have you picked up a new one to practice today? Whatever words are circulating in your mind right now, we hope they serve you well. Life can be challenging enough when you’re not giving headspace to destructive thoughts. One way to get better acquainted with your favorite pieces of advice is to write about them. Or write about how your life might change if you follow a piece of advice that you’ve had a difficult time following. Maybe it’s one you thought of that isn’t on this list. If it does you good, hold onto it. And remember that whatever changes you need to make, you’re brave enough to make them — and to make them stick. May your courage, freedom, and creativity influence everything you do today.
