The Rules to Be the Best You

Most New Year's Resolutions these days are about physical health, or the occasional personal improvement of character.

But remarkably few are about taking better care of other people, and making them feel better.

However, how can we do better with others without looking into ourselves first, and learning from our mistakes?

Exactly.  We can't.

Therefore, the best we can do is self-reflect, see where we went wrong, accept responsibility instead of blame others, accept our shortcomings, and try to overcome these shortcomings.

Therefore, for myself, I have this list of 42 (because that's the number of life, the universe, and everything) rules of self-improvement, many of them derived from mistakes I made, and have to learn from.

Rules on how to be the best Grant possible:

1. If God tells you to do something, you should do it, and don’t doubt him.
2. Everything you do should be respectful to those who are present
3. No raging at others.
4. Don’t put your hands inside your pants’ crotch.  That’s just gross (I never do this, but still, good rule)
5. No showing up late.
6. Don’t show anything that might frighten others until they know your sick sense of humor better.
7. No emotionally manipulative melodrama (not that this is my default, but it's a good rule).
8. Don’t hum in the presence of others, that’s just annoying.
9. If I'm nothing without a crush, you shouldn't have one (Luckily, I'm getting my shit together!)
10. Do your best to cover when coughing, sneezing, or yawning.
11. If you’re addicted to something, get rid of it.
12. Don’t sit when others stand.
13. Keep smiling!
14. Don’t change your clothes in the presence of others.
15. Be willing to do things you don’t want to do.
16. Do your best to not speak louder than is usual.
17. Listen to others.
18. Don’t do anything with food that others won't like.
19. Pay compliments to others.
20. When sitting down, keep your feet firm and even.
21. Take the feelings of others into account
22. Don’t do any of that over shifting or hand gnawing in the presence of others.
23. Be bold, ignore or face your fears.
24. Don’t roll the eyes or any of that rude shit.
25. It doesn’t always hurt to validate the weird shit of other people.
26. Don’t kill bugs in the sight of others. A lot of bugs are better than some people anyway.
27. It never hurts to put aside some pride.
28. Face others when speaking to them.
29. Helping others is the best!
30. Always clip your nails.
31. It’s okay to fucking swear like a shithead, it humanizes you to your fellow motherfuckers.
32. Don’t puff your cheeks in frustration.
33. Always be pleasant, even when annoyed.
34. Compliments are nice, but don’t overpitch the flattery.
35. Watch your tone!
36. Don’t read in the presence of others when speaking to you.
37. Don’t overstay your welcome.
38. While being pleasant is generally nice, you should be grave when it’s more serious.
39. Speaking of which, when others cry, you don’t have to smile to be encouraging.
40. Any gestures of the body should be aimed at who you’re speaking to.
41. You should often try to make others laugh!
42. Don’t reproach others for their natural infirmities (not that I do, but it’s nice to put in)

This is my list of personal rules, and it's still growing! So what rules would you like to live by for this new year? Let me know in the comments below!