One of the simplest personal development books I’ve read is The Four Agreements. The ideas are simple to understand, but difficult to execute. The agreements are:

1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don’t take anything personally
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best

Reading the book takes you a little deeper into each one. Just reading them as headlines might make you think, “Yeah, that’s obvious.” If you audit yourself throughout the day, you may find they’re harder to follow than they sound.

Being impeccable with your word means a lot of things; being truthful, avoiding gossip, and not speaking negatively about people. Not taking anything personally is hard when things happen. A lot of times, we do take things personally, but not taking things personally makes situations easier to deal with. Not making assumptions is much harder than it sounds. If we really look at how we view situations, we probably make assumptions more than we think.

Always doing your best has many layers. Sometimes we’re full of energy, and our best looks much different than it does on days when we’re not feeling good. Comparing your best days to your worst days can cloud the idea. Doing your best means doing the best you can with what you have at any given time.

The agreements also layer together. Doing your best applies to how well you lived the other three agreements.

Sometimes the simplest frameworks are the most difficult to follow. If you truly try to live by these four agreements, I believe you’ll do better in life.

— Bus