8 Strategies to Resist the Temptation to Judge People

Moving past or resisting the temptation to judge people is a healthy habit to get into if you want to build healthy, constructive relationships with friends, family, and coworkers. In this article, we’re going to show you some things that might give you a push in the right direction.

It can be hard to avoid the temptation to judge people without actually knowing much, but thinking you do. We all know that it’s not fun to be on the other side of this, but that can be easy to forget.

How many times have you felt like other people have been talking about you behind your back? How many times have you gone down that path yourself and actually caused exactly what you were talking about (a self-fulfilling prophecy)?

Strategies to resist the temptation to judge people

If you want to avoid judging people, here are 8 strategies you can try out:

1. Think before you speak

Getting carried away by what other people say or what you assume can be a huge temptation. It’s the easiest, quickest option to fill a silence when you don’t know what else to say.

Not repeating rumors you hear, or not trying to get on the good side of people who are, will help you make the right choices and not pay attention to information that’s questionable at best. The immediate result of this is that you’ll stop judging people. Then, other people might follow your example and stop doing it too.

2. Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice based on specific techniques taken from Buddhism. It’s a philosophy that says you become freer when you make fewer judgments. This is true for the judgments you make about other people and the ones you make about yourself. It’s also an attitude that can help you a lot if you want to avoid judging people.

3. No one is perfect

If you want to stop judging people, you have to become more tolerant. Yes, other people make mistakes, but so do you. So what gives you the right to judge them or to consider yourself superior? There are so many times when people move beyond the facts and start to judge people based on their own opinions.

4. Remember that we’re not all the same

People don’t all act or think in the same way. Everyone is different, and that doesn’t mean they deserve any less respect because of it. Things like culture, family, friends, or your upbringing play a role in your life story. That means they also play a role in how you think and how you act.

5. Stop and look at yourself

Instead of spending your time judging other people, you could use that time to look at yourself. Do  some introspection and learn more about your flaws and about the way you think. That can help you reach an understanding of why you think the way you do and why you criticize other people for certain things.

6. Be okay with yourself

Your tolerance for difference is much higher when you’re in a good mood. For example, when you’re sad, it puts a filter of pessimism and harshness in your worldview. Anger, to give another example, makes your temptation to quickly judge people even stronger.

7. Have a more open mind

Being an open-minded, tolerant person says a lot about you. Having a positive attitude towards other people will also make it much easier to communicate with them. Because of that, it’ll be easier for you to get to know other people better. You might realize how interesting they are and that you can learn from their way of thinking and living life.

8. Recognize that appearances can be deceiving

Appearances can be deceiving, very deceiving. Plus, human beings are an extremely complex species. What this means is that there are usually a lot of different things going on behind our behavioral patterns. There are a lot of possible interpretations for our actions when you look at them from the outside. Trying to use your good sense can help you recognize the big role that things like the halo effect play when it comes to first impressions. 

Your mind lives in this dynamic. It needs it to create a lot of frameworks for the world around you and learn to predict your behavior and other people’s. What we’re talking about is the dynamic of judging people. It’s an automatic reaction that’s usually not helpful. Instead, it can cause harm and destroy relationships. That’s why it’s usually best to keep things to yourself or to be extremely careful when talking about things.