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.

Everyone knows at least one person who’s impossible to deal with in an argument. And that’s unfortunately not because they’re particularly good at debating, but rather because they’re so absurd that there’s simply nothing to gain from the conversation.

I’d say that you should never argue with fools since they’re incapable of rational thought, or applying any common sense. Not to mention that some can be downright ignorant at times.

Here are all the other possible reasons:

– They’re ignorant.
– You can’t argue with an irrational individual.
– They don’t want to understand you.
– They’re not capable of understanding you.
– It’s a waste of energy.
– It’s a waste of time.
– You’ll get annoyed
– You’re the fool if you argue with them.
– They’ll try to manipulate you.
– You’ll be lowering yourself to their level.