Naivety means showing a general lack of real-life know-how, judgment, or wisdom due to experiencing too few life events.

As a result, unsuspecting people are the perfect victims to fall prey to those looking to misuse them for their own benefit since they don’t recognize the surrounding threats.

That’s why I compiled the following list to learn how to stop being naive, so we can protect ourselves from those who want to take advantage of us.

— Be cautious.
— Be present in the moment.
— Practice objectivity.
— Do your research.
— Engage in active listening.
— Talk less, listen more.
— Seek out novel experiences.
— Be alert.
— Learn to read others.
— Travel more.
— Meet people from different backgrounds.
— Have confidence in your abilities.
— Learn to recognize signs of dishonesty.
— Volunteer.
— Get out of your comfort zone.
— Think before acting.
— Don’t ignore your gut feeling.
— Continue to trust people, despite possible setbacks.

The best things you can do to stop being defensive are:

— Understanding what triggers you.
— Anticipating your triggers.
— Not automatically assuming the worst.
— Not taking things personally.
— Practicing a continuous growth mindset.
— Being compassionate.
— Practicing active listening.
— Setting boundaries.
— Asking how you can aid.
— Taking responsibility.
— Seeking out clarifications.
— Fixing the concerns.
— Remind yourself of your values.
— Seeing criticism as a chance to grow.
— Not starting criticizing back out of pettiness.
— Remaining calm.
— Not interrupting others.
— Accepting other people’s perspectives.
— Knowing your limits.

These are the 20 most common signs that you’re complaining too much:

— You’re constantly complaining.
— People are pointing out that you complain a lot.
— You’re venting without finding, or even trying to find solutions.
— You ruminate a lot.
— People avoid you.
— You always see the glass as half empty.
— You’re typically in a negative mood.
— You have a negative outlook on life.
— You claim that you’re simply being realistic.
— You’re irritable after venting.
— You spend a lot of time with other complainers.
— You surround yourself with negative people.
— You’re too hard on yourself.
— Everything has to be perfect, it’s never good enough.
— You feel hopeless and helpless.
— You tend to dwell on what happened in the past.
— You think of problems instead of solutions.
— You compare yourself to others too much.
— You don’t handle compliments well.
— You think everyone’s out to get you.