I stumbled across an article called Rules to Live By today while I was breaking one of my own: Don’t squander time wandering around the internet.

Among the dozen rules listed were some old standards: Never give up, practice gratitude, believe in yourself, and of course, follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you’d like to be treated unless they’re not from your political party. No, they didn’t say that last part. I was just making sure you were paying attention.

Anyway, I was so inspired by the article that I continued breaking my rule about wasting time on the internet for the rest of the day. That’s because, out of curiosity, I typed the words “rules to live by” into the search bar and came up with 5,580,000 results. I didn’t read them all because that would have taken a lot of time and another one of my rules is “never miss a column deadline.”

I did read a few though. And there were some unusual rules. One list author said she never trusts anyone who doesn’t like animals or small children. One said he only sets thermostats, volume controls and other dials at numbers ending in 0 or 5. And another believes in having a clean kitchen before going out to eat. I believe in that one too. I don’t live by it. But I do believe in it. 

We all have rules we live by, either consciously or unconsciously. And a new year is a good time to recommit to them since it’s easy to let them go the way of my rule about not wasting time on the internet. Here are some of the other rules I live by with equal success. You’re welcome to try them. Maybe you can do better.

• Be kind to everyone you meet. It’s a tough world out there. Besides, you never know who might win the lottery next.

• Don’t make life harder for other people — especially me. Obviously this means you shouldn’t steal identities, rob anyone at gunpoint or spit your gum on the sidewalk. But it also means you shouldn’t have more than 13 items in your grocery cart in the express lane. Or leave it sitting in the middle of the parking lot. Or take up two parking spaces no matter how nice your car is or how bad you are at parking.

• And speaking of that, always park as far from the door as possible. Walking is good for you. Plus it leaves the best parking spaces for me.

• Keep your feelings about other drivers to yourself — unless you have heavily tinted windows.

• Take care of yourself — not so that you can live a long life, but in case you do live a long life.

• When nothing else on the menu sounds good, choose the salmon. That’s what I do. I like salmon, it’s nutritious and my husband isn’t likely to want to taste my dinner when I order it.

• Never carry on a lengthy cellphone conversation with one person while you’re having lunch with another, especially if they’re buying.

• Don’t believe everything you read on social media or hear from political pundits. For that matter, don’t believe everything you hear from your neighbors down the street since they might not be living by this rule.

• Never behave as badly as the political party you think behaves badly.

• And, finally, recommit to your rules for living every new year. It’s easier than making resolutions.

Dorothy Rosby is an author and humor columnist whose work appears regularly in publications in the West and Midwest. You can subscribe to her blog at www.dorothyrosby.com or contact at www.dorothyrosby.com/contact.