You’re not perfect. You can be better. We all know this, but we tend to dislike hearing any criticism about ourselves.

When you hear criticism about yourself, instead of instantly feeling defensive, try pausing, and listening to what they actually said.

Ask yourself two things. Are they right? Does it matter? If they’re not right, let it go. If they’re right, but it doesn’t matter, let it go. If they’re right and it does matter, then think about what you can do to improve, and be grateful to that person for helping you be the best self you can be.

Sometimes it seems like life is burying you. You’re working hard and not getting anywhere. Maybe things are going wrong.

Give yourself a small win. Pick one thing in your life that you can control, and give yourself credit for a small win. Maybe it’s getting to the gym one day this week. Maybe it’s making one sales call.

You don’t have to hit all of your goals to feel like you’re making progress. Give yourself a win. Then another win. Then just keep going, celebrating your small successes. You’ll feel better.

Some of the best things in your life are the things that you’ve lost. A family member, a pet, a relationship.

So do you feel bad for having lost it, or do you feel lucky for having had it in the first place. I was talking with a customer of mine whose husband of 62 years had just died. She told me, “I don’t feel sad that I lost him, I just feel lucky that I got to have him for so long.” How amazing is that!

You can feel the pain of loss, but don’t let it take away the joy that it brought you in the first place. Choose to focus on the good.

You can win at poker, or in baseball or playing scrabble. You can’t win at life. When we compare ourselves to other people in life, we’re trying to win life.

There’s always someone who is better looking, has more money, has a nicer house, etc, etc. Why waste your time and energy trying to win something that cannot be won.

Life is just a series of moments. So enjoy the moments of your life. Be the best self that you can be. And don’t worry about the winning.

Be careful what you put into the world, because it’s coming back. The universe is just energy. Our bodies are also just energy. So it makes sense that the energy that you put out into the universe has an effect.

Bad things happen to everyone. But have you ever noticed that the people who are always complaining, and cynical, tend to have a lot of bad things happen to them?

Think about the energy you put out into the world. Is it what you want coming back to you?

Life is made up of routines. And routines are great. But too much of anything is a bad thing.

Mix up your routine sometimes. Do something different. Go to a park you haven’t been to. Go to an event at the library. Go watch a sporting event. Go for a walk.

Do something different. Don’t let your routines become your life.

Sometimes life has a lot going on. Transitions can be hard to deal with. Sometimes when there’s a lot happening, you feel overwhelmed by it all.

It’s okay to feel the stress. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Give yourself permission to have your feelings. Embrace them. Process them. Then take a good look at the situation in front of you and make a plan for getting through it.

Chances are the plan you make won’t look like how it works out eventually, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you make the plan, so you know that there is a way for it to work out in the end.

Don’t stress out about being stressed out. It’s okay now. And it’s all going to be okay.

We all feel different. We all feel unique. Sometimes we feel like other people don’t understand us because we are different.

But here’s the thing; we’re all different. Each of us is unique. The fact that you’re different doesn’t make you different, it’s the one thing that everyone has in common.

So the next time you’re feeling like an outsider, or like no one understands who you are, just remember that everyone around you feels the same way. Because we’re all different, and unique.