Our ultimate goal in life is to be happy. That’s not always as easy as it seems. Life has a way of beating you down if you let it. Wouldn’t it be great to know how some women always manage to seem so happy? The secrets of truly happy women – those who live life to the fullest and make the most of every day – aren’t complicated. With a little work, you can be one of those women you used to envy.

I’m not saying you’ll have a giant smile plastered to your face 24/7. No one’s that happy, at least not naturally. All I’m saying is you can be happier and more content in life. You’ll still have bad days, but they’ll be much easier to deal with. All you have to do is know the secrets to killing it in your day to day life. Here’s what the women who have it figured out are doing differently.

1. THEY’RE THANKFUL FOR THE LITTLE THINGS. We’d all love bigger bank accounts, a mansion, a sports car and a tall, dark and handsome man to wait on us hand and foot. Truly happy women aren’t stressed out by what they don’t have. Instead, they’re grateful for what they do have, such as their health, enough money to have a place to live, good friends, family who loves them or even something as simple as catching a rerun of their favorite show.

2. THEY CUT OUT NEGATIVE INFLUENCES. Happy women know life is too short to waste on negative people. They don’t hesitate to cut out toxic friendships, end bad relationships, quit jobs with horrible bosses or co-workers and so on. Basically, if it’s affecting their life in a negative way, they work to cut it out of their life.

3. THEY’RE KIND TO OTHERS. A major secret that most people ignore is making others happy is key to being happy yourself. Don’t believe me? Try smiling at someone who looks a little down. Seeing them light up and smile back makes you feel great. The simple act of being kind to other people makes you feel happier.

4. THEY TAKE TIME TO DO WHAT MAKES THEM HAPPY. To be truly content and really take advantage of life, you have to make time for yourself. If you love to knit, set aside time to do it everyday. Want to travel? Do it, even if no one wants to go with you. You have to focus on your own needs to. Doing for others 24/7 only wears you down. There has to be a balance in your life.

5. THEY’RE ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING NEW. Don’t get me wrong, kickass women have routines. They also work in new things whenever possible. Maybe it’s trying a new restaurant or taking a trip to the mountains to watch the sunrise. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but every new experience gives them something to look forward to and be grateful for.

6. THEY LOVE TO EXERCISE. This really shouldn’t be a surprise. If you’re unhealthy, you tend to feel physically and emotionally bad. Working exercise into your day helps relieve stress, prevent many health problems and improves your mood. You don’t have to do 2 hours of cardio every day, but even 15 minutes of yoga a day is a great start.

7. THEY MAKE THEIR OWN RULES. Happy women don’t let others dictate life to them. They set their own timelines and make their own choices. Everyone might tell them they need to be married by 30 with kids by 32. They might choose to adopt a child at age 33 and skip marriage until they’re 40. When you make up the rules as you go, you’re much happier.

8. THEY’RE IN LOVE WITH SLEEP. How often do you see a happy woman that stays up all night, sleeps a few hours and continues with her day? Sure, you might seem happy doing this when you’re in college, but eventually, it gets old and you feel like crap. Truly happy women know sleep is important to helping them handle whatever happens tomorrow.

9. THEY HAVE A FEW CLOSE FRIENDS. You don’t need a 100 friends to make you happy. Odds are, you only really trust a handful of those. Happy women know that happiness isn’t measured by the number of friends. All that matters is having one or two close friends you can trust and count on.

10. THEY LEARN NEW THINGS. Life tends to get monotonous when you’re never learning anything new. The monotony drags you down and rips away your happiness. It doesn’t matter what your learning. It could be a new language, cooking a new dish, trying a new dance or anything you want. Knowledge is power and that power makes you happy.

11. THEY DON’T SWEAT EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. The happiest women always seem happy with where they are in their lives right now. Why? They don’t sweat every little thing. So what if they’re having a bad hair day? They’re just happy to have hair. They only stress the big things, such as losing a job they absolutely loved or having their boyfriend of five years cheat on them.

12. THEY FIND THINGS THAT MAKE THEM LAUGH OR SMILE.We all have something that makes us laugh or smile, even on our worst days. It could be a song, a TV show, a movie, a best friend or a pet. Happy women know what things help bring out the happiness in them. If they’re low, they’ll spend time with whatever it is that makes them laugh and they’ll happier in no time.

The only one standing in the way of you being happy is you. Start living life your way. It’s one of the not so secret secrets of truly happy women everywhere.