Why do we tend to keep people who are not worth our time in our lives? Recently I have been reading Steve Harvey’s book “Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success”becauseI have been feeling so weighed down lately and I wanted some inspiration. In his book, he explains that each individual is essentially pulling their own wagon. You have people inside of it that care about you, yet they are not allowed to help you carry it up. They can tell you words of encouragement, but that’s it. However, there are other people inside of your wagon who are just free-riding. Those free-riders will drag you down. They will act nice in front of you, but when you turn your back they will gossip about you.

Here’s a list of reasons for why you should let these people go. If you don’t know what makes a person negative, here you go.

1. They constantly feel sorry for themselves.

And they feel that the only way to feel better is to spread those bad vibes to you. They do not allow us to grow.

2. They also constantly complain about how life does not work out the way they want it to.

The matter of fact is that life hardly works out the way we want. There is no “perfect route.” When you take these people out of your life, you will become more optimistic about life.

3. They will gossip about other people to you.

There is nothing good about talking about people. How are they improving themselves if they talk bad about others? And here’s another thing, if they have the audacity to talk bad about someone towards you, they are more likely than not talking bad about you, too.

4. They don’t welcome other people and make others feel inferior.

People usually feel uncomfortable coming up to them because they have heard how they react to others. They tend to not welcome people that are different from them.

5. They are jealous.

They always compare themselves to others and ask why they do not have what “so-and-so” has. The green monster takes a visit and becomes so invested in the other person’s life they forget about their own.

6. They blame others for their unhappiness.

They cannot accept the fact that sometimes they did something wrong. They have way too much pride to put their armor down. If they didn’t finish a task, they will look for excuses as to why they did not finish it.

7. They are self-centered.

They care more about what is going on in their life and would rather talk about themselves, if they aren’t talking about people.

In order to grow and become a better person, we need to be willing to get rid of all those people who prevent us from reaching our goals. These “negative nellies” would rather see us fail with them and want to make copies of themselves. So remember the next time when you hear someone talk behind your back, you are simply two steps ahead of them.