Personality Development : 10 Things To Give Up To Move Forward

There is one constant beauty in LIFE, the idea of moving forward, the thought of growth, the pleasure of increased opportunities and the improvement in the quality of our life. However in all of our lives, there are those incidents which pull us back, which make us question ourselves, which make us think whether we are on the right path or not. Well, here is an answer as to how to push it all behind us and look at moving ahead in LIFE.

10 things to give up to move forward, moving forward in life, personality development, stephen covey, inspiration, motivation

Here is a list of 10 things to do to keep moving forward in life.

1) Do not let others’ opinions control your life.

I agree that it is important to take feedback, to see a complete overview of what is relevant to the existing decision. But then, do not let them control you. Listen to them, but know that you are the one who is controlling the decisions and efforts in your life. The others are just views

2) Your past failures!

I lead with the overused phrase- “Being a prisoner of your past”. We also wrote a post on “How to stop being a prisoner of your past and ways to overcome the failures and fears of our past. Know that our life lives in the present and it exists in the future. We cannot change what happened in the past but we can change our perception of our present life and the future both of which are far more important than the past!

And know that you cannot move ahead in life looking back! –

3)  What do you want? 

Take a decision, try and stick to it! The one reason most of us fail is because we underestimate the power of decision making and sticking to a decision. A decision by definition mean cutting away all the other distractions and sticking your guns to what you believe in. That ought to make a difference in life.

Here is a post that might help you to reach clarity on decision making – Why things won’t work?

4) Procrastination! 

Procrastination is the thief of time. While I am all for the things to procrastinate which can be done later, I think there will be those important things which you cannot afford to procrastinate or push further. Make sure you know what those things are and make sure you don’t fall behind on what matters the most to you. That is setting your priorities right!

5) Choosing to do nothing! 

At any point of our life, our actions matter more than our thoughts. Most times we are lost in indecision and choose a safe exit in saying that you would either do it tomorrow or you would fail at it cos it is too hard or someone else has failed at it. Do it anyway! The trick is in action and not in thought. Thought is cheap, actions matter and only actions make a difference!

6) You don’t need to be right always! 

It is ok to be wrong. Heck it is perfect to be wrong. You don’t have to beat yourself up when something wrong happens. Find a way to make it right, think of ways you can set things in order. Most of all, accept that you are a human being and you can be wrong too. Don’t be too hung up on being right always. Don’t let your ego get the better out of you!

7) Denial! Running away! 

What do we do when problems are hard? Do we say that the problems don’t exist? Do we wait for the magical fairy to come and solve it for us? Or do we just get our head down and start giving our best to find a solution from it?

Well the choice is ours and the decision we take about it is going to make the difference!

8) Making excuses! 

We have a very strong reason as to why something did not work out. It is perfect, it is rational, it is well justified also. But please note that no one is going to care about these excuses! What are you trying to gain out of them anyway? Sympathy?

You don’t need that, you are better than that. You need a solution!

9) Overlooking the positives.

Time and again we are all so well trained that the moment something goes wrong, we all focus on that one point and think that life is a mess. What about looking at the bigger picture in life? What about the good things that happen to you and what about the great things in your life? Don’t they matter at all?

10) Not appreciating the present! 

Well, there are 3 phases of our life- Past, present and the future. The past is full of memories and in retrospect it looks so easy. The future is full of plans and in forethought it looks very challenging and we think of various ways to counter that challenge.

But what about the present? Is it something we are stuck in? Or is it something which is a beautiful thing that is shaping our life? Your answer to this is going to tell you how happy you can be in your life!


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Vinay Nagaraju

Product Director with 10+ years in leadership roles - team building, product strategy, coaching and mentoring are a part of my everyday responsibilities. I write about motivational words that inspire us and shape our thinking and help us go beyond these thoughts to find what our minds are telling us and evolve.

This Post Has 11 Comments

  1. Vinodini Iyer

    Too good Vinay! This makes looking forward in life so much easier. Sometimes we just kill things by over thinking and analyzing way too much. Looking ahead and working towards it, is the way forward.

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Vinodini :). True, I think we almost naturally tend to do that. It is a tricky place to be between underthinking and over thinking to reach that balance sometimes.. :).. But yeah, every solution lies in that work or action :)

  2. Athenas Take

    Each point was a valid point, lots to read and think and then learn from.

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Athena :). I loved this page from Stephen Covey. His 7 habits of highly effective people is a highly recommended book both on management fronts and pretty useful as well :)

  3. Kokila Gupta

    Clear and striking right to the weak points …can start a slug in active mode :) truly inspirational.

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Kokila :). I owe a big thanks to Stephen Covey. A very powerful research on this topic :)

  4. Vidhya Rao

    Very essential post…I wish everyone read this….I personally loved the last point. Extremely true… The longer one lives in the past, the less present the enjoy and they almost have no future.

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Vidhya :). True, I think the entire essence in life lies in moving forward. We all have a pain of the past or some experiences which we have a soft corner but we cannot let that stop us or make us weak. We have to keep moving forward cos that is the only solution atleast I can think of :)

  5. Alok Vats

    Nice post Vinay. I really like this post, Very inspiring post. If you won’t give up all these things you won’t be able to move forward…

    1. Vinay Nagaraju

      Thank you Alok. Came across this in Stephen Covey’s thoughts.. Was too tempted not to share this.. :)

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