How To Be A Nice Person Summed Up In 9 Steps

Empathy is your ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and feel what they feel. It is the cornerstone of your ability to be nice. If you can’t understand where someone comes from, how are you supposed to know what they need and what is a nice response or action?

Learning how to be nice to people is recognizing what they need, how you can help, and what makes them tick. A balance between saying and doing the right things and avoiding doing the wrong. It sometimes is not as easy as it should be.

# Be considerate

Being considerate figures out what people need and finds a way to help. That means not always putting yourself, your wants, or your needs ahead of everyone else. There are times when you must put self-preservation foremost, but always considering yourself a priority is not the road to being nice.

# Think of others

Often, we walk through our days completely mindless of what we are doing or what is around us. Take the time to consider those in your life on a daily basis. Do the small things like picking up your wife’s favorite candy bar at the store, send your assistant a thank you card, just because, or call up an old friend just to “check in” once in a while.

# Pay if forward

Have you ever seen an old person *or anyone* struggling with their groceries at the store? Being nice is about doing things altruistically. Not because you expect something in return, but simply because it makes you feel good to make them feel good.

We were put on earth to help one another, but all too often, we don’t. Take the time to help others when you see they need a helping hand. That not only makes the world a better place, it ups your nice factor.

# Be thoughtful

Ever go to the refrigerator to find that someone emptied the milk and put it back. Or gone to the bathroom to look down and find out that whoever used the last of the toilet paper, didn’t replenish it?

One key component to kindness means going the extra mile and not being self-centered. Notice what you are doing so you aren’t setting the next person up for failure or something awful to come their way.

# Don’t be selfish

If you see that there is only one left of something, don’t take the last of it. That is true of everything in life. Recognize the other people around you and that the goal in life is not to grab all that you can, especially to someone else’s detriment.

Selfishness is when you are only capable of seeing and worrying or caring about one person—yourself. Stop thinking you must have it all to be happy. Being nice by sharing and giving back is a much better feeling all the way around.

# If you have more than enough, give some away

If you have more than enough of anything—possessions, money, love, support—give some of it away. There is no reason to hold onto things you don’t need if they benefit someone other than you. Being nice involves understanding how you relate to the world, and how being in it, is beneficial.

# Think before you speak or do

Before you say something, put a filter on it. Often, we talk without thinking and say things that offend people even if we don’t know it.

Before you say something either to someone or about someone, think about how it will be heard and interpreted. That doesn’t mean you walk around on eggshells only saying positive things. But stop to consider who you talk with before you say highly opinionated things.

# Listen

Some of the best advice for how to be nice to people? Listen! Listening isn’t just about hearing the words that come from someone’s mouth. It takes them into consideration and really thinks about them.

Listening is a skill that not everyone has. We can all hear someone talk and either choose to let it go in one ear and out the other. Or we allow it to process and give insight and input when necessary. In the same manner, we listen without passing judgment or ascribing intent, just be a shoulder to vent on.