It’s important to have someone you look up to, but don’t forget the other side of the coin. Wherever you are, you have a sphere of influence—a group of people who are influenced by the things you say and do.
The core of an admirable life is respect. When you respect yourself and others, you behave in a way that sets a high standard. You’ll do things you can be proud of and inspire others to do the same.
Here are 11 tangible steps you can take toward living a more admirable life:
1. Learn to Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin
The real purpose of your life is to evolve and grow into the whole person you are capable of being. It’s easy to get off the path and spend your time trying to be someone you think you’re supposed to be, but any effort to changing yourself for others is bound to be hollow. The best you can do is be your true self.
2. Choose Simplicity Over Complication
So much of what we do makes things more complicated than they have to be. But when things get complicated, it’s easy to become confused and lose your way. You’ll live a better life when you’re able to keep things easygoing and straightforward.
3. Don’t Dream Your Life—Live Your Dreams
Never put off or give up on your dreams. You are powerful when you believe in yourself—when you know that you are capable of anything you put your mind to. When you finally decide just to be yourself, you can make your life look any way you want it to look. Go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is.
4. Stop Pleasing Others Besides Yourself
How many wasted years, months, days have you spent trying to please others? Making sure everybody is content is never your responsibility—if they like you for who you are, good, and if not, it’s not your problem. Do more of what makes you happy, and in turn you’ll make others around you happy, too.
5. Live Fully and Dare Greatly
Take risks and be bold. If you win, you win; if you lose, you’ll still be wiser. Try new things and take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, because every risk, every dare, is a victory over fear.
6. Don’t Worry What Other People Think
When you let go of worrying about the expectations and opinions of others, you can start standing out from the crowd and working on what’s important to you.
7. Embrace Integrity
Integrity is central to any admirable life. It’s about making sure your words are consistent with the way you behave, and that you’re willing to live up to what you expect from others.
8. Treat Confidence as a Superpower
Confidence allows you to take on any challenges that are thrown at you and shows what you are made of. It’s impossible not to admire those who have been through a lot and can still keep moving forward.
9. Be Interested to Be Interesting
The most interesting people in the world are those who demonstrate authentic curiosity toward the world and people around them. Look around. Pay attention. Ask people to tell you their stories and listen.
10. Treat Yourself as You Treat Others
People who live to help and serve others sometimes forget to extend those principles to themselves. You can’t truly appreciate or care for anyone else if you don’t first appreciate and care for yourself.
11. Stop Pretending or Faking It
You don’t have to fake it to have a flawless life. Allowing yourself to be yourself in all your flawed human glory is ultimately the most admirable thing you can do—and life gets so much easier when you stop pretending.
In the end, if you can become a person you admire, you’ll be able to help others bring out their best as well.