Stop Trying to Be Nice All the Time

Nearly all of us wish to be known as ’nice’ people. Yet our happiness may depend on a willingness to be — at points — strategically selfish. Sign up to our new newsletter and get 10% off your first online order of a book, product or class: For books and more from The School of Life, visit our online shop: Our website has therapy, articles and products to help you lead a more fulfilled life: FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects on our blog, here: “It’s natural and beautiful to strive to be a nice person. In a world full of cruelty and thoughtlessness, nice people are committed to being generous, sympathetic and gentle. They never want to cause anyone to feel defeated or to lose sleep. They will go to great lengths to spare others tears. It sounds especially lovely. Nevertheless, it seems impossible to go through the whole of life being nothing but kind. Sooner or later, we are all called upon to take decisions that, even as they protect things we very much care about, will ruffle feathers, generate upset and may lead us to be (at least for a time) violently hated in some quarters.” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Gemma Green-Hope Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions