You need to be true to yourself, first and foremost. That requires you to yourself, the good, the bad, and ugly. You can't control how others react to you, so there is no sense being fake in the hopes more people will like you.

By being yourself you make true friends. People who will stick by you through thick or thin. They accept you for who you really are and are able to overlook your shortcomings. They will tell when you screwed up or disappointed them.

This open discussion with a true friend can spark the motivation to improve yourself. This will be real change not just the appearance of change to please people. You do it out of love and wanting to be a better friend to that person.

To many people today are concerned about the number of friends they have instead of the quality of these friendships.