Taking charge of your life and emotions and being responsible for your actions are signs of maturity. Some experts claim that society is becoming less mature as the years pass by. But that doesn’t have to be true for you. Here are six things you can do to become more mature.

Mature people analyze their behavior and thought processes for signs of immaturity

When you identify immaturity in your thoughts and behavior, step back to evaluate the situation. What was happening? How did you react? And why did you react that way? For example, when you didn’t get your way, did you whine, throw a fit or complain? That’s immature behavior. Mature behavior is accepting the situation and seeking a compromise.

Mature people don’t play “child”

Giving away your power puts you in a subservient position where other people are over you. This behavior puts you in a parent-child relationship where you’re always the child. So, take charge of your life. Be responsible. Keep your power.

Mature people do their own thinking

Needing to know what other people think in order to make a decision is a sign of immaturity. There’s nothing wrong with getting someone’s opinion. The issue is when you seek their opinion to make a decision you know will please them. Do your own thinking. Be polite and take other people into consideration but live your life.

Stand on your own two feet and make decisions. You’re not a kid anymore. Expect to be criticized. And expect people to be unhappy with your decisions sometimes. It’s okay! You’re in charge of your life – you’re the boss of you! You don’t need their approval. And you should never live your life to be liked or to please others. Accept people’s opinions and move on with your life.  

Mature people redefine failure

Instead of seeing failure as a character fault or personal inability, learn from it instead. Failure is an experiment where you learn what doesn’t work; keep experimenting until you LEARN what does work!

Maturity is the ability to learn and move on. Immaturity is blaming yourself or others for went “wrong” and giving up. So, the next time you “fail,” analyze what happened and what went “wrong” to learn how to do it better or be better next time. This mindset and skill is a sign of emotional maturity.

Mature people set goals and work to achieve them

Mature people get into the “game.” They don’t sit on the sidelines and watch life pass by. They set internal and external goals. An internal goal might be to not complain for a week. An external goal might be to learn how to play the guitar.

The point is that mature people live their lives. They write down their goals, internal and external, and work to achieve them. According to psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews, writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to achieve them because it harnesses the power of your subconscious mind and activates both hemispheres of your brain. 

Mature people are open minded

They listen to other people and consider opposing points of view. They seek to learn, grow and understand. They have empathy. Because they stand on their own two feet emotionally, they’re not easily offended or become defensive. They’re not easily influenced either because they’re in charge of their own mind. Still, they’re considerate of the thoughts and feelings of others. 

Look we’re not born mature; maturity is a process… perhaps a lifelong process in some ways. But one thing is for certain, you have the power to take charge of your life today, which is the first and most important step to becoming more mature.