ideas for humans Archives

Time Management Tips: You Have More Time Than You Think

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 25, 2025 | ideas for humans

How to find time

I know you’re busy. Maybe you have a job, or multiple jobs, a family to take care of, and a mortgage to pay. When you prioritize what you should focus your attention on, the passion project or hobby that you’ve always wanted to spend time on is low on the list. How do you find time to do all of the things that you want to do? The first step is to learn effective time management. When you do this, you’ll find out that you have more time than you think.

The following is an interesting and eye-opening exercise. Record how you spend your time every hour for one week. You can log your time in a spreadsheet to keep it organized. I promise you, it reveals a lot about your habits, some of which you might not even be aware of.

After you do this, did you learn that you spend time mindlessly scrolling on social media on your phone or watching Netflix? Continue reading for more time management tips.

Sticking to an hourly calendar increases your productivity

Ironically, when I used a planner to time-block my calendar, I found that I had more free time than I thought. When you stick to a schedule, you’re being accountable for each hour of your day. This is a time management tip that makes you realize that you can check things off your to-do list and still have extra free time.

Do this exercise because if you don’t keep track of what you do with your time, you won’t know whether you’re spending it wisely. When you do this, you are more aware of how much time you spend being productive versus how much time you waste.

Using your time wisely and being productive makes you realize that you do in fact have more free time than you think. You just spend it doing wasteful things like scrolling on your phone.

To be more productive, eliminate any type of activity that wastes time. This eliminates distraction so you can focus on the important tasks.

If finding a spare hour or two here and there is tricky for you, it could mean getting up an hour early in the morning.

Make to-do lists and stick to them

People who are efficient with their time make to-do lists and stick to them. They have agendas and planners. They spend their Sunday nights planning out what they will do for the rest of the week.

They are extremely organized and have their schedules down to a T. Their time runs on a schedule, which they don’t deviate from. But life happens, and if they do deviate from their to-do list, they find ways to quickly catch up.

I’ve started to get back into the habit of planning my day ahead of time. I have a planner and write down what I’m going to accomplish every hour. I found that it helps me focus. It even helps me finish my tasks faster. The spare time that I have, I use to work on my personal projects.

What if you are tired by the end of the day and just want to watch TV?

It’s understandable if by the end of the work day you just want to relax and unwind. But why don’t you try taking a walk after dinner instead of spending your evening watching TV? Or read a book on a topic that will help you achieve your goal? Or watch a tutorial? There are so many other ways to be productive in your free time, while still enjoying what you are doing.

Deadlines are important

When you are trying to reach a goal, give yourself a deadline. This is a time management tip that works well. Put it in your calendar. It will motivate you to get it done. It’s true that if you’re given only an hour to get a task done, you’d use the whole hour. But if you gave yourself only half an hour, you’d manage to get it done in half the time. The remaining half hour is yours. You have more free time than you think.

Having a deadline is similar to giving yourself only a set amount of time to complete a task. At first it takes a lot of discipline not to get distracted and check your social media. But it takes practice. The more you shut out distractions and focus on your task, the easier it gets.

Time is valuable

Like money, treat it as a valuable resource. You don’t have all the money in the world, and you don’t have all the time in the world, either. So would you waste it? No, of course not! So don’t spend it doing things that don’t matter. Cut out activities that waste time. Focus instead on that hobby that brings you joy, like learning a new language or learning how to play the piano. Once you figure out your own time management practice using these time management tips, you’ll discover that you have more time than you think.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 8, 2025 | ideas for humans

One of the first blog posts that I published in my ideas+business page was aimed at educating you on how to sell what people want. It got me thinking on how to follow up on this important topic. Not everything is sell, sell, sell! There are in fact things in life that you can get for free. Not everything comes with a hefty price tag. So for this post I thought it would be useful to share the top five best things in life that you can get for free.

Everyone likes free stuff. Ever get frustrated by learning that something is not actually free? For example, signing up online for services requires you to give them your personal information like your birthdate. Definitely not for free.

While coming up with this list, I found myself leaning more towards the things we take for granted, the everyday things that we don’t appreciate enough.

These are mostly things that you would think about while trying to fill a gratitude journal, and are not tangible items we can own. They do not have monetary value in the usual sense. They don’t belong to anyone; they belong to everyone.

No one owns these, it’s free for people to enjoy. There’s no need to look for bargain prices, and there’s no haggling required to enjoy these things.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

1. Fresh Air
2. Water
3. A Walk Outside in the Park
4. Friendship
5. Freedom

1. Fresh Air

For those of you who are lucky enough to live in unpolluted cities, fresh air should top your list of the best things you can get for free.

To appreciate fresh air and feel gratitude for having limitless amounts of it, take a break from work or from studying and go outside. Breathe in deeply for a count of three, and exhale for a count of three.

Feel that? It’s fresh air, and you don’t even have to pay for it. No one can put a price tag on it, so have as much of it as you want.

I know what the next thing you’re thinking. How long will it be that fresh air is free and available to everyone? What if you live in areas where pollution is rampant, the air quality is low, and you can’t safely breathe it in unless it’s filtered?

My point is, this is a call to protect the environment. Take public transit or bike if you can, instead of driving your car. Protect the environment so that everyone can share and make use of it freely.

2. Water

Water is closely related to fresh air. It comes from the environment. Clean water is free, and I don’t mean the $4.50 one litre of bottled water at the grocery store, but the one from the tap. Okay, we have to pay our water bill, but you get the point.

Clean water is not available to everyone. In underdeveloped countries, clean water is scarce and hard to come by.

Everyone has turned on the tap for some water, and admit it, sometimes we’ve wasted that water. It’s something that we take for granted, so much so that we don’t realize when we waste it. It’s available instantaneously, like magic.

When something is freely available like it’s a normal, everyday part of our lives, it’s easy to overlook how lucky we are that we have clean water.

So next time you turn on the tap for a glass of cold, drinkable water, appreciate the fact that you can have it whenever you want it.

3. A Walk Outside in the Park

It’s free to take a walk outside in the park. Unlike having to pay for a fitness class, taking a walk in the park is free exercise. It doesn’t cost anything, and there are numerous health benefits.

During a busy work week, take some time during your lunch break to get outside, and bring a friend so that together, you can refresh your minds by breathing in all that free air.

Walking is a meditative exercise, and you only need fifteen minutes to reap the benefits. It makes you calmer and more focused. It gives you more energy to tackle all the things that are still in your to-do list.

You may have heard that sitting down is the new smoking. So do yourself a favor and increase your longevity by getting up, going outside, and talking a fifteen minute walk with a friend.

4. Friendship

This leads me to the next thing in the list of best things in life that you can get for free. Friendship should be given freely. Whether you meet in person or over the internet, being sociable can extend your lifespan and protect you from neurodegenerative diseases.

So call your friends or relatives that you haven’t kept in touch with over the years and invite them for a walk or for coffee. If you can’t see them face to face, have a FaceTime call. These people are important in your life, so cherish your friendships and keep them alive. It’s like watering a plant; your plant, or friendship, will die if you don’t take care of it everyday.

Cultivate the friendships that make you happy, and share your interests, hobbies, and everyday activities with them. Joining a social club or group is also a way to cultivate new friendships.

A good friend doesn’t have to be a rare commodity if you work hard at finding those who support you during bad times and share your joys during the good times.

5. Freedom

The last thing on the list of the top five best things in life that are for free is freedom. If you live in a free country, you probably don’t think of this everyday as something that we should appreciate. But you should realize that some people in the world don’t have freedom, or have ever tasted it, or have had it taken away from them.

Our gratitude for freedom needs to be something that we add to our gratitude journal everyday.

We can breathe in fresh air, drink clean water, step outside in the park without fear for our safety, and be friends with anyone that we want, without being punished for it.
So take care of the environment and take care of each other so we can prevent ourselves from putting a price tag on these things in the future.

You can see the point I’m trying to make with this list. The only way to keep these things free and available to everyone is prevent them from being threatened by our own carelessness.

The future is hopeful. Humanity doesn’t have to play a part in threatening these resources and making them scarce and enjoyable by only a privileged few.
There are actions that people are taking right now to protect the environment and each other.

By taking the time to appreciate what we can get for free, it will give us a reason to keep things free and accessible to all, because as soon as we put a value or price tag on them, they will no longer be free to everyone.

Putting an ownership on something that was once for free is an injustice. There doesn’t have to be a hidden cost to freedom.

The Seven Benefits of Being Frugal That Will Surprise You

by Idea Pictogram | Jul 31, 2025 | ideas for humans

I’m the type of person who practices frugality like it’s a religion because I’ve discovered many surprising benefits of being frugal. Being frugal is not only wise, it’s a way of life that has freed me from debt, stress, and worry. Not only am I debt-free, I’m also not tied to material possessions. I live free from the stress of having to take care of maintaining a house or a car or even a pet.

In today’s world, we live in a gluttony of material wealth. We’re unable to let go of things that weigh us down. We mistakenly pursue ownership of things that bring us status and power. But the joy they bring you is only momentary. In this blog post, I talk about the seven surprising benefits of being frugal, which I have discovered by limiting how many material possessions I own.

Table of Contents:

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months
2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt
3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free
4. I am less materialistic
5. I live a healthier lifestyle
6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have
7. The more I save, the less I want

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months

Everyone should have emergency savings. Many people don’t have enough savings to last them three months. If you don’t have emergency savings, it’s time to start saving now. If you were to lose your job or if your business were to slow down and lose income, you’d be cushioned against bad times until things start to look better again.

If you have trouble saving, take a look at your daily or weekly expenses. Examine where you can cut down your spending. Do you pay for a subscription to an app that you never use? Or do you buy lunch everyday when you could just pack a lunch from home? Do you take an Uber when you could use public transit? These are just some of the ways to save money. It starts with taking an audit of your expenses and cutting down on the ones that are “nice to have” but are not absolutely necessary.

Get into the habit and mindset of saving money. Being strategic about how you spend your money will get you farther in your saving goals, and faster, too. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it protects you during emergencies when your cash flow is stagnant.

2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt

As soon as I receive a credit card bill, I make sure that I pay it immediately. The idea of paying high interest fees on credit card debt is enough to make me think twice about delaying the payment of my monthly credit card bills.

If you adopt the same mindset, you’d have no creditors knocking on your door. Also, credit card debt can pile up, creating a dent in your credit score. Protect credit score at all costs. Your credit score determines how much interest you’d be paying on things like car insurance and your mortgage, and whether you can get that business loan.

Being debt-free saves you from the stress and worry of wondering whether you’ll ever be able to pay back your loans. For example, if you have student loans and are drowning in debt, the first thing you must do is pay it off so you’re not saddled with high-interest debt. The less money that goes to your debtors, the more you can put in your own pocket. No one likes forking over their hard-earned money to someone else.

3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free

Since I’m frugal, I don’t have to worry about paying off debt and whether I have enough money for shelter, utilities, and food. I don’t lose sleep worrying about it.

Also, if you want to start a family, you must have enough savings to provide for your children. You can’t do that if you’re buried under a stack of bills. Since I don’t have any bills piling up, I can rest easy knowing that I don’t have any financial obligations that can get in the way of providing for my family. And what’s more important than family? Life is stressful enough as it is. Being debt-free is an easy way to lighten that burden. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it gives you a peace of mind.

4. I am less materialistic

Stuff is just stuff that you will later throw or give away. There is so much waste going into landfills. It’s mindboggling how we can continue to consume and to waste in an endless cycle. Because I am frugal, I don’t buy things that I don’t need. I am less materialistic. This means I throw away less waste, and I uphold my personal value of being responsible for the environment and for the planet.

Consumer spending creates a global problem of waste that ends up in landfills. It’s killing our planet. It might not seem like a lot when one person stops adding to that waste, but when a mass of people collectively say “No” to waste, it can really add up and make a great impact.

In addition, materialism feels empty after a while. You’ve got the latest tech gadget, for example, but after a while, that shiny object loses its appeal, and you’re back to craving the next thing to distract you. The benefit of being frugal is that you care less about physical things, and more about what really brings you joy to your mental and emotional state.

5. I live a healthier lifestyle

Since I don’t eat out in restaurants, I save more money and also live a healthier lifestyle. I will occasionally splurge on a meal, but never more than once a week or three times a month. That hamburger and fries, loaded with calories, carbs, and sodium, does not entice me enough to make me sacrifice my health.

If you get cravings for unhealthy food, replace that unhealthy meal with one that will keep you full. That includes protein and complex carbs that will not spike your sugar level.

I understand that eating out at a restaurant is what people do when they get together. They want to socialize and have a good time. But why not convince your friends to have a picnic or potluck, or cook food together at home? That way, you choose what food you eat and still have the chance to socialize while enjoying a meal together.

6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have

I feel a lot of gratitude for what I already have, because I’m not constantly trying to replace these things with newer purchases.

There’s nothing that makes you more unhappy than being greedy for things you don’t have. For example, I already have a winter coat that serves its purpose of keeping me warm during the winter. So why would I need a designer coat that costs more but serves the same purpose? Some people shop for designer brands because they feel that it brings them status and makes them the envy of their social circle. But that’s not really the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that they don’t appreciate what they already have.

If there is one way of feeling gratitude, it’s to change how you think about your possessions and to value what you already have. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that you appreciate what you already have.

7. The more I save, the less I want

Savings and want move in opposite directions and in inverse proportion. Meaning that, when I save more, I want less. It mattered less whether I had the latest pair of shoes from Nike or the latest iPhone from Apple. These things won’t make you happy. Besides, at the speed that technology moves these days, the latest and hippest gadget will become obsolete and out of fashion faster than you can say smartwatch. So save more, don’t get distracted by shiny objects, and you’ll find that you want less.

The Final Word

There are a lot of hidden benefits to being frugal. Spend less and save more to unlock the convenience of not being tied to material possessions. Having lived through one or more recessions, the current generation is wiser about how they spend their money. Not knowing what can happen in the economy the next day, or next week, can stress you out if you’re not prepared or if you don’t have your finances in order.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the economy, have ample savings that can cushion you in hard times. Being frugal is not about penny-pinching. It’s about investing in your future and being smart about the choices you make when you spend money. It’s a way of life free from greed, and free from feeling unhappy about what you don’t have.

How to Build Structure in Your Life and Maximize Productivity

by Idea Pictogram | Jul 14, 2025 | ideas for humans

After I graduated, I was glad to have more free time to do what I wanted. But I missed having a schedule and inflexible deadlines for assignments and exams. Deadlines motivated me to work and study. You might have had a similar experience after your own graduation. Do you struggle to organize your time without that class schedule? How can you build structure in your life to maximize productivity?

A major life event can change the amount of free time that you have. For example, when you’re in college, everything in your life is organized into blocks of time: the class syllabus is divided into modules, and each module ends with an exam. What happens when you graduate and you don’t have that structure? How do you be more disciplined and build a routine into your daily schedule?

The trick is to be held accountable for your time. For example, make use of a weekly planner and plan your week ahead and stick to it. Giving yourself deadlines will help you accomplish more tasks. If you don’t stick to a schedule, you will wonder what happened to all that free time that you had. Structure can make you more efficient and achieve your goals more quickly. Below are some ideas on how to build structure into your life after graduation.

Table of Contents:

Put timed alerts on your phone
Sign up for classes, preferably one with homework assignments
Plan your week using an agenda or planner
Join a community or group to hold you accountable
Have three meals a day at regular intervals
Exercise, take a walk, a yoga class or journal in the morning
Get up in the morning and go to sleep at the same time
Do something that advances your career or business
Block off time for leisure activities to reward yourself for your hard work

1. Put timed alerts on your phone

Make good use of the timer on your phone. The timed alerts will remind you to stay on schedule. It’s like the school bell signaling the end of the class and the start of the next.

Some apps have motivational quotes that will pop up on your phone screen to keep you motivated throughout the day. These can act like cues to start and finish tasks, building more structure in your life. It can also give you an idea about whether you are spending too much or too little time on specific tasks.

2. Sign up for classes, preferably one with homework assignments

A virtual class or webinar that is given live will give more structure to your day. If the class is done at your own pace, make sure you have the discipline to work on the class at the same time every week.

Pick a class that interests you. There are a ton of free or low-cost options that you can choose from. You can also check if your alumni association has free classes for recent graduates, so take advantage of these offerings.

If you try a class for one session and don’t think it’s for you, move on to the next class on your list but don’t go hopping from one class to another without finishing it or else you won’t get the full value of the class. You can also read reviews first before spending time on the first session. If your class has a forum where students can gather, take advantage of this and be active in your class groups. This can be a good way to meet new people who have the same interests as you.

Taking a weekly class will help build structure into your life and maximize your productivity.

3. Plan your week using an agenda or planner

Planners are handy and a lifesaver. I use mine everyday to jot down the items on my to-do list, and reminders and deadlines. Invest in a good planner. It could be one that is visually pleasing with extra pages and all the bells and whistles. Or it can be simple with a minimal design.

If after graduation, your weekly planner is looking empty, think of ways to fill up all those chunks of time to stay productive. If you don’t stick to your schedule, log in that activity in your planner anyway, so you can look back at it at the end of the week to determine if you need to adjust how you spend your time. This also shows that you’ve maximized your productivity.

4. Join a community or group to hold you accountable

One of the nice things about college is the camaraderie and study groups. Maybe you met every evening at the library or café to study and quizzed each other to prepare for an exam. Your classmates kept you focused and made studying fun.

Joining a community is the same thing. Just showing up to a community or group is half the battle. Keep in touch with your classmates and meet up even if it’s not to study. It can be lonely without seeing your former classmates everyday, so make sure that you check in with your friends as often as you can and let them know you want to continue the friendship. The good friendships that you worked on building in school are valuable. Even though you are not studying for exams anymore, meet to exchange how your career planning is going. You can feel isolated after graduating if your social life evolved around your college friends and you don’t have that buffer anymore.

Showing up to a class at the same time every week builds structure in your life and makes you more productive.

5. Have three meals a day at set times, at your dining table

Don’t skip breakfast! Food fuels your energy for the day. If this was something you neglected during your chaotic busy schedule at school, and you skipped meals, now is the time to correct that. It is difficult to perform your best on an empty stomach. A healthy body translates into a healthy mind that operates more efficiently and is better equipped to weather and recover from stress.

Getting the proper nutrition is key to bringing your “A game.” You’ll perform better if the right nutrients are being carried in your blood circulation to your body, and it also improves your sleep and memory. Having regular meals builds the needed structure in your life.

6. Exercise, take a walk, yoga class or journal in the morning

The exercise will improve your blood circulation and give you more energy. The morning is the best time to get exercise because once you get your blood flowing, your heart pumping, you will find it easier to focus the rest of the day. You need energy to achieve all of the goals that you’ve dreamed of. I cannot stress enough the benefits of exercise. You’ve probably heard fitness experts touting all the health benefits of exercise, and they are not exaggerating. Exercise boosts longevity so you can live longer and have more time to accomplish all those goals you set for yourself.

Getting into a regular exercise routine will help build structure in your life and give you the motivation to be more productive.

7. Get up in the morning and go to sleep at the same time

This is good for sleep hygiene. Your circadian rhythm is your “inner clock” that tells you when to wake up and when it is time to sleep. After you graduate and have more leisure time, you may be tempted to sleep during the day to catch up on the sleep you lost pulling all-nighters. Work on resetting your circadian clock so that you wake up and go to sleep at the same time each day. A bit of caffeine in the morning to boost your energy. Whether it’s brewing a cup of your favorite tea or coffee, it can help you feel more alert during the day.

Why is it important to wake up and sleep at the same time? You train your body to wake up with the sunrise and to sleep when it’s dark and this allows you to get the right amount of sleep each day. Poor sleep hygiene has been linked to a whole gamut of diseases. Sleep gives you the strength to fight off diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Just like getting three meals a day, good sleep hygiene lets you perform at your optimal level. It improves your mood, memory and makes it easier to be motivated. If you have bad sleep habits, work on resetting your circadian rhythm. Get as much sunshine as you can during the day, and avoid looking at the bright light from your computer or phone at night.

Having a regular sleep cycle improves energy, and hence, productivity, and builds more structure in your everyday life.

8. Do something that advances your career each day

Whether it’s reading a book about entrepreneurship at the library or on your tablet, networking, or attending a virtual class, it only takes a few minutes each day. You can accomplish a lot even if you put in only fifteen minutes each day because all your efforts will add up by the end of the week. Block off this time in your weekly planner, and keep track of your efforts in a journal, your goal, what you did, and what you accomplished for that day. Don’t forget to set a goal for the next week. It can be to network with another acquaintance or finish reading another chapter in the book on entrepreneurship.

9. Block off time for leisure activities to reward yourself for your hard work

You’ve made it through a week, and checked off all the items in the to-do list in your weekly planner. Good job! Now is the time to reward yourself with a treat, whether it’s visiting a friend and going for dinner or reading that sci-fi novel that’s been on your reading list. Taking some leisure time will reset your energy store and refresh your mind for the upcoming week. You deserve it!

The Final Word

After graduation, take some time to enjoy your free time. Once you are refreshed and energized with the extra leisure time, now’s the time to focus and plan ahead to achieve your career goals. Sit down at your desk with your weekly planner and jot down your to-do list and block off chunks of time so you can keep on track with your goals. Don’t forget to block off time for self-care and physical exercise. If you’re feeling lost after graduation, and don’t know how to organize your time without an everyday schedule, implementing structure in your life can go a long way in making you feel more in control of your time and bring you closer to your career goals.

How To Reach For The Stars While Being Realistic

by Idea Pictogram | Jul 6, 2025 | ideas for humans

Now this might seem like an oxymoron. Is it realistic to reach for the stars? When you want to achieve your goals, how do you reach for the stars while maintaining realistic expectations?

1. Assessing whether you have unrealistic expectations

Unrealistic expectations stem from common misconceptions. For example, when talking about entrepreneurs and success in business, we often think that they’ve achieved overnight success. The successes, rather than the failures, are what draws attention and gets the most reactions on social media. People will rarely publicize the struggles that they’ve encountered during their entrepreneurship journey.

If all you consume is social media, this causes you to have unrealistic expectations of your own goals. Sure, setting the bar high helps you dream big and fuels your ambition. But when you have goals or ideals that you can’t reach, you easily become discouraged.

So if you think that entrepreneurs achieve success with very minimal effort, you will probably be shocked when you find that success requires toil and perseverance. Lots of it. Entrepreneurs have sleepless nights, worrying whether they have enough funds to pay the bills.

Sometimes you can get carried away by reaching for the stars, which causes you to have unrealistic expectations. That’s why a reality check is good to have every so often, and ask yourself if what you expect to achieve is realistic.

2. How to reach your goal without getting discouraged

When you reach for the stars, you expect things from yourself, and when you don’t meet your own expectations, you feel dissatisfied. But you need to walk before you can run. You can’t give up too easily, or be too hard on yourself.

Discouragement is the enemy of progress, or the perception of progress. You can have a lofty goal that seems miles away, but in reality, you have actually made it one step closer with your blood, sweat, and tears – you just can’t see the results yet. The incremental steps towards your goals appear invisible, until all of a sudden, that momentum picks up and you’re off to the stars.

This happens frequently if your personality type tends towards perfectionism.

It’s noble to strive for that perfect ideal, but it can easily discourage you if your results are less than perfect.

Think of major goals as subgoals, or smaller steps. Attaining that one small step will fuel your motivation to take another step. So if you find it hard to get started on achieving your goals, take the first step, then the next.

3. Stay realistic by evaluating your expectations

Are your expectations grounded in reality?

When you reach for the stars, it’s easy to forget about what’s realistic, and what’s not. To find out, first map out a timeline for your goals, and give yourself room for setbacks. No matter how closely you follow your plans, you will most likely experience setbacks on your journey. Then review this timeline. Is it realistic? Are you expecting to do too much in too little time? Some people will plan out an entire year thinking that they will do everything on their to-do list. But when they miss one of them, everything seems to fall apart, and their progress is stalled.

As mentioned previously, success rarely materializes overnight, and that includes having plans that run smoothly without encountering any barriers.

What can you do about unrealistic goals?

Rewrite the timeline you’ve set for achieving each goal, and give the timeline some flexibility. By having flexibility in your plan, you’re more likely to reach your goal. Decrease the number of goals that you plan on achieving for the year. Sometimes, you’re so ambitious that you plan on achieving too many goals. Be realistic, and pick the ones that have the most return on the time that you invest into the goal. By prioritizing your goals, you are much more focused and less distracted by the least important goals.

4. Be rewarded for that first step

Most people will have goals, but not the motivation to reach them. That’s why you must set up a reward system for your hard work. Rewards are what motivates you to do more of something and to keep on going. To incentivize yourself to reach your goals, be sure to reward yourself for that first step.

That first step is the most challenging, with the most barriers. There’s a lot of negative self-talk that may hinder you from even starting to achieve your goals. This is why it’s important to reward yourself for trying.

During our journey in reaching for the stars, it pays to stay realistic, and to reward yourself for sticking to an achievable goal. Instead of thinking of your goal in terms of the end result, think of it in terms of the path that got you to the first step. In changing how you think about reaching for the stars, you are more realistic, and more likely to arrive at the destination that you’ve been aiming for.

Are You Too Nice?

by Idea Pictogram | Jun 28, 2025 | ideas for humans

1. Introduction

There are many heart-warming synonyms for “nice”, such as generous, benevolent, and compassionate. But when I reflect back on why I feel the need to be too nice, these words take a sudden turn, like I’ve rationalized my “niceness” even though the person I’m being nice to doesn’t deserve it.

Are you too nice to someone even though you shouldn’t be? If you’re like me, you rationalize your actions by saying, “But I want to be nice! Am I just naive for wanting to be a nice person?”

“What if I like the feeling of making someone feel valued, like their opinion matters?”

“What if someone is just having a hard day and needs a bit of understanding and compassion?”

But can you go too far to be nice?

2. Are you the peacemaker in your circle of friends or family?

If a person’s feathers are ruffled by an offending remark or action, you feel the need to smooth things over to keep the peace. If everyone just behaves themselves, we can avoid conflict and live peaceably.

You’re the type of person who hates it when someone is upset. To make this person feel better, you start acting very nice to them. You bite back any words that might make them more upset, tip-toeing around them and being accommodating, catering to their needs and wishes.

Often, you’ll describe yourself as the peacemaker in your circle of friends or family. You’re the one who will make things right when things feel unbalanced, resolving conflicts so that everyone feels happy again.

But these actions come at a cost.

3. Do you have trouble being assertive?

Most of the time, you’re nice because you’re not assertive and it’s easy to take advantage of a nice person. This is the cost of being nice. You’re easily labelled as a pushover, giving everyone the impression that it’s okay to take advantage of you.

You’re faced with a dilemma. How do you be assertive without offending this person? Sometimes you can’t think of a way to do this, so you back down and let them have it their way.

But you’re going to be stepped on if you keep this up!

4. Are you too nice because of guilt?

Feeling responsible for how people feel is sometimes the result of guilt. You know, the feelings of being ashamed, guilt-ridden, and conscience-stricken. You’d do anything to avoid feeling this way because it’s uncomfortable, like having a heavy weight on your conscience.

Guilt can make you go out of your way to be nice to someone, putting their needs above yours. But you shouldn’t have to. To get rid of feelings of guilt, be more compassionate to yourself. You like to be understanding, so turn around those actions to yourself. You’re nice to others, and that should include yourself, too. What would happen if you were nicer to yourself?

5. How can you stop being too nice?

We’ve all heard that we should treat someone the way you want to be treated. But what happens when you’re the only person to stick to this rule while other people disregard your own feelings? After a while, you’ll start to feel resentful and bitter. So put your foot down and say you’ve had enough. There’s no amount of compassion that will fix your relationship with this person. Let yourself be selfish for once!

Good for you for recognizing that you are too nice. First of all, to stop being too nice, practice saying no. Some people don’t know how to. It’s tough to say no when others guilt-trip you. But shut-off those voices until they’re background noise. You are not obligated to go out of your way to be nice. It’s like trying to be helpful even though this person won’t be helpful in return. You end up being short-changed in every interaction you have with this person.

6. Conclusion

Being too nice is a disservice to yourself. If you’re too nice, turn it around and instead of being too nice to others, be nice to yourself. Once you stand up for yourself and let others know that you won’t be pushed around, their opinions about you will change. They’ll know that you won’t be taken advantage of. Practicing self-compassion is also another step you can take to feel less guilty, because guilt is a large part of your motivation to be too nice to others.

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