My commentary and a selection of photos for a different look to this list of things to give up. Somewhere after New Years and before Lent—it's a great time to reflect. Which one do you identify with the most?

1. 50 things to give up
After years of claiming tenacity as a virtue, I concede that many
of my bumps and bruises come from my relentlessness. Yes,
there are some things worth giving up!
Monday, January 7, 13

2. 1. Give up trying to be perfect.
Excellence is worth the pursuit – until it is
always "just ahead." At that point you might just
be bogged down in perfectionism.
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Monday, January 7, 13

3. 2. Give up comparing yourself
to others.
The only person you’re competing with is
yourself.
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Monday, January 7, 13

4. 3. Give up dwelling on
the past or worrying
too much about the
future.
If you can’t do anything about it
—just let it go.
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Monday, January 7, 13

5. 4. Give up complaining.
Do something about it (if you can or want to)—or be quiet.
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Monday, January 7, 13

6. 5. Give up holding grudges.
Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.
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Monday, January 7, 13

7. 6. Give up waiting.
Napolean Hill said, "Procrastination is the bad habit
of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should
have been done the day before yesterday".
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Monday, January 7, 13

8. 7. Give up lying.
In the long-run the truth always
reveals itself. Either you own up to
your actions or your actions will
ultimately own you.
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Monday, January 7, 13

9. 8. Give up trying to
avoid mistakes.
"If you're not making mistakes, then
you're not doing anything. I'm
positive that a doer makes
mistakes". — John Wooden
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Monday, January 7, 13

10. 9. Give up saying, “I can’t.”
As Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can or
you think you can’t, you are right.”
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Monday, January 7, 13

11. 10. Give up trying to be
everything to everyone.
"...the key to failure is trying to
please everybody."
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Monday, January 7, 13

12. 11. Give up thinking
you’re not ready.
A wise man has said, "We are
always getting ready to live but
never living."
Nobody ever feels 100% ready
when an opportunity arises.
Because most great opportunities in
life force us to grow beyond our
comfort zones, which means we
won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
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Monday, January 7, 13

13. 12. Give up setting small goals
for yourself.
Most people set small goals because they're afraid
to fail. Sometimes we spend so much effort
applauding the "baby steps" that we lose sight of the
end.
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Monday, January 7, 13

14. 13. Give up trying to do
everything by yourself.
Sometimes I just need help! And it's
usually the hardest thing to ask for
until after I've really messed up.
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Monday, January 7, 13

15. 14. Give up buying things you
don’t need..
It doesn't help anything, wastes time and money,
and we all know where it ends up anyway!
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Monday, January 7, 13

16. 15. Give up blaming others for
your troubles.
Just don't do it!
When you blame others for what you’re going
through, you deny responsibility – and you give
others power over that part of your life.
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Monday, January 7, 13

17. 16. Give up making
mountains out of molehills.
Just step over the molehill instead of trying
to climb it. Save your energy for the big stuff!
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Monday, January 7, 13

18. 17. Give up trying to live
up to the expectations
of others.
You'll never win. Work on it for real
and exceed your own expectations.
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Monday, January 7, 13

19. 18. Give up the ‘easy street’
mentality.
If you aren't engaging in real life, then life really is
passing you by. No amount of opinion spouting from
the sidelines replaces diligent, focused, hard work
and engagement.
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Monday, January 7, 13

20. 19. Give up making promises
you can’t keep.
Sometimes things get in the way of our good
intentions, but don't ever promise something you
know will never happen.
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Monday, January 7, 13

21. 20. Give up letting your
thoughts and feelings
bottle up inside.
People are not mind readers. They
will never know how you feel unless
you tell them.
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Monday, January 7, 13

22. 21. Give up beating
around the bush.
Learn to communicate effectively
and with confidence. If you don't
say what you mean and mean what
you say you open up a lot of gaps
that can be filled in the wrong way.
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Monday, January 7, 13

23. 22. Give up avoiding
change.
It's inevitable. You'll be happier if
you anticipate it and learn to flow
with it. Life really becomes an
adventure when you learn to
welcome it! But don't run from it.
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Monday, January 7, 13

24. 23. Give up your sense of
entitlement.
When the playing field is leveled, we are all equal in
the eyes of God. You'll be happier if you stop
thinking you deserve anything because of where you
were born, what you do or who your parents are
(etc). And, please, stop thinking that nobody else
deserves anything either.
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Monday, January 7, 13

25. 24. Give up waiting until the
last minute.
If you are always running to catch up you'll never get
ahead. The only thing you'll have to show for it all is
the stress of contingencies and a pile of excuses.
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Monday, January 7, 13

26. 25. Give up being dramatic.
Some people mistake the "rush" with adventure.
Don't do it. Don't suck other people into your drama
and don't jump into theirs.
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Monday, January 7, 13

27. 26. Give up being anti-athletic.
Why is it so hard to get excited about something that
is so beneficial to body, mind and soul? Make
exercise a habit.
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Monday, January 7, 13

28. 27. Give up junk food.
Have you noticed that healthy
people usually have healthy diets?
After all, it is generally known that
we are what we eat.
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Monday, January 7, 13

29. 28. Give up eating as a
means of entertainment.
Don’t eat when you’re bored. Eat
when you’re hungry.
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Monday, January 7, 13

30. 29. Give up foolish habits that you
know are foolish.
And please, don't text and drive
"An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good
habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones."
– W. Somerset Maugham
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Monday, January 7, 13

31. 30. Give up relationships with
people who bring you down.
Choose your friends from those who are encouraging,
like-minded and seeking the good.
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Monday, January 7, 13

32. 31. Give up being shy.
Introduce your self. Smile. Ask questions. Be real.
You won't get far if you always wait for other people
to make the first moves.
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Monday, January 7, 13

33. 32. Give up worrying
about what others
think of you.
Some of us spend a lot of energy
trying to escape stereotypes and
then put even more effort into
building our own box just by trying
to anticipate what somebody else
might think of us. Get out of that
box!
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

34. 33. Give up trying to
control everything.
One of the greatest fears is being
out of control. We pull other
people's strings to manipulate an
outcome - or we allow someone
else to pull ours. It's time to cut
some of those binding ties!
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Monday, January 7, 13

35. 34. Give up doing the same
thing over and over again.
"If you do what you've always done, you'll get
what you've always gotten." -Tony Robbins
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Monday, January 7, 13

36. 35. Give up following the path
of least resistance.
Life just isn't easy. You can try to avoid the bumps
and hurdles, but that road is empty and and the
goal at the end will be worth the minimal effort -
meaningless.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

37. 36. Give up “persistent”
multi-tasking.
“Most of the time multitasking is an
illusion. You think you are
multitasking, but in reality you're
actually wasting time switching from
one task to another.” – Bosco Tjan
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Monday, January 7, 13

38. 37. Give up thinking
others are luckier
than you.
If you don't consider yourself "as
lucky" consider whether you have
worked as hard and played as
smart. Then ask yourself if you really
want someone else's end-goals to
define your happiness.
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Monday, January 7, 13

39. “Life in the Fast Lane Playing in
Traffic intense stressful
challenging overwhelming
fulfilling demanding exciting
nerve-wrecking entrepreneurial
unrelenting empowered
exposed: no place to hide
flexible confusing results
compensation sweatshop team
ascendancy ego suppression
flat organizations who's my boss
no titles no status customer
focus self-abnegation
decentralized decision making
chaos the end of tenure the end
of security no complacency fear
ongoing change burnout”
38. Give up filling every
waking moment with
commitments and activities.
Learn to RELAX! Take some time to breathe
and think.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

40. 39. Give up making purely
emotional decisions.
How it feels is important - but, please don't let your
emotions trump your intelligence when making life-
changing decisions.
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Monday, January 7, 13

41. 40. Give up doing the
wrong things just
because you can get
away with it.
The cumulative effect of sneaking
past your moral boundaries can be
an inner turmoil that erodes your
spirit or a steeling of your inner
barometer that will warp your
perception of right and wrong.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

42. 41. Give up focusing
on what you don’t
want to happen.
When we look expecting the worst,
we always see the worst in every
situation first.
The opposite is also true: Expect
wonderful things today!
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

43. 42. Give up taking
yourself so seriously.
Often, other people are more
gracious to our fumbles and foibles
than we are to ourselves. Grab a
little candor and learn to smile
when you think others are laughing
at you. You'll be surprised that the
small stuff you sweated about
doesn't really matter that much
after all.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

44. 43. Give up spending
your life following a
career path you’re
not passionate about.
A job is a job and work is often
hard. If you're going to make a
career out of it, pursuing what you
love to do will make it easier and
probably more successful.
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Monday, January 7, 13

45. 44. Give up thinking about the
things you don’t have.
Whether you have a little or a lot, you will always be
unhappy if you believe that you don't have enough.
Your whole outlook will change when you start
saying "thanks" for what you do have!
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

46. 45. Give up doubting
others.
Many dreams have been dashed
by people's wet blankets of doubt.
Become an encourager - or at least
remember that the one who says it
can't be done shouldn't interrupt
the one who is trying to do it!
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

47. 46. Give up fussing
with every beauty
product on the
market.
Nothing can gloss over a cold,
hard heart. Let your face smile,
radiate your care for others, your
joy of living and everything about
you will seem beautiful.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

48. 47. Give up trying to fit in.
Most people try to fit in for acceptance - to be
known; the truth is once you look and act like
everyone else, everyone else will have an easier
time ignoring you. Don't just blend in - be
authentically unique!
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Monday, January 7, 13

49. 48. Give up trying to
be different for the
sake of being
different.
Have you noticed that people who
try too hard to be different than
everybody else usually end up
conforming to another group of
people who are trying to be
different? Be yourself!
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

50. 49. Give up trying to avoid risk.
Everything you do and everything you don't do has
a risk. Don't hide from it - hiding isn't "risk free"
either.
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Monday, January 7, 13

51. 50. Give up putting
your own needs on
the back burner.
My mother is still reminding me
that if you don't take care of
yourself, you eventually won't be
able to help anybody. Give yourself
a little more opportunity for rest
and you'll probably get a lot more
done.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

52. Bonus. Never give up
on yourself. God
doesn’t.
Jesus said it is a truth, that if you
have faith even as small as a
mustard seed, nothing good will be
impossible for you. (Matthew
17:20)
When we "give up" those traps and
habits, we open new places for the
joy, and power, and love, and all
good things from the one who
gives us strength.
www.quessity.com
Monday, January 7, 13

53. Credit.
This list appears many places
online without original credit.
I’ve replaced most of the
commentaries with my own words.
The photos are from fotolia.com.
If you like it, share it.
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Monday, January 7, 13