Gretchen Rubin

Interview: Dorie Clark Dorie Clark is a leading consultant and keynote speaker who teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. She's the author of Entrepreneurial You (Amazon), Reinventing You (Amazon, Bookshop) and Stand Out (Amazon, Bookshop), which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine. Her […]

For years, I've been sending out my free "5 Things Making Me Happy This Week" newsletter. I love working on this newsletter—I write about my personal adventures and highlight interesting articles I've read, information I've learned, aphorisms I've written, favorite quotations, photographs, etc. I include links to new articles on my website and to new […]

Many of us are starting to return—more or less, in some fashion—to work, after staying away for a long time. This is a valuable opportunity for habit change, so be sure to use it! And you have to use it immediately. Because our old daily habits around the work day have been disrupted, we have […]

Interview: Wendy Wood. From my time researching and writing Better Than Before, my book about habit change, I know the fascinating work of Wendy Wood. Wendy Wood is a social psychologist whose research addresses the ways that habits guide behavior—and why they are so difficult to break—as well as evolutionary accounts of gender differences in […]

Nothing makes me happier than a great podcast! Why? Podcasts are free I already have a smartphone, so no need to buy additional gizmos They fit every mood or interest. Some podcasts teach me fascinating information (20,000 Hertz), some help me fall sleep (Sleep with Me), some make it possible to think about Game of […]

One of my most important Secrets of Adulthood is: The opposite of a profound truth is also true. Examples: I keep an empty shelf; I also keep a junk drawer. I try to accept myself, and also expect more from myself. If I want to keep going, I must allow myself to stop. Last week, in “A Little Happier,” I talked about some valuable advice I got from my law-school roommate’s ex-boyfriend, to “Check every box.” That idea has helped me a lot during my career. Many listeners wrote to remind me of another important idea: Don‘t check every box! Don’t imagine that I have to check every box before I apply for a job or try something new.  It’s important to stretch, to challenge ourselves, not to limit our sense of possibility because we think that we just don’t have enough credentials. We don’t have to check every box. Excellent advice. Thank you, listeners. This mini-episode is brought to you by The Happiness Project — my #1 New York Times bestselling book that stayed on the list for two years. Intrigued? Read a sample chapter here, on “Boost Energy.” Want to get in touch? I love hearing from listeners: Comment below Email us: podcast@gretchenrubin.com Connect ... The post A Little Happier: Don’t Check Every Box. appeared first on Gretchen Rubin.

Last week, I talked about some excellent advice I got very indirectly — from my law-school roommate’s ex-boyfriend. You never know where good advice will come from. Here’s something else he told me: Try to check every box. If you want a job or a position, make yourself the easy, non-controversial, inevitable choice by meeting every criteria possible. This advice sounds rather obvious, but I’ve been surprised by how often it has come in handy. This mini-episode is brought to you by The Happiness Project — my #1 New York Times bestselling book that stayed on the list for two years. Intrigued? Read a sample chapter here, on “Boost Energy.” Want to get in touch? I love hearing from listeners: Comment below Email us: podcast@gretchenrubin.com Connect on Twitter: @gretchenrubin and @elizabethcraft Call: (77 HAPPY 336) Comment on my Facebook Page Sign up to get an email alert whenever we release a new episode    Happier listening! The post A Little Happier: More Advice about How to Be Successful–Check Every Box. appeared first on Gretchen Rubin.

Next Sunday, May 14, is Mother’s Day in the United States and Canada. If you’re looking for a thoughtful gift for a mother in your life, may I self-promotingly suggest one of my (bestselling) books about happiness? The Happiness Project was a #1 New York Times bestseller, was on the bestseller list for two years, and has been translated into more than thirty languages. In the book, I describe the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. I examined areas like energy, work, play, mindfulness, money, attitude, and eternity. If you’d like to read an excerpt, to see if you think the book would be a good gift, read here. Happier at Home was also a New York Times bestseller. I did a second, deeper happiness project — this time focused on being happier at home. Because if I’m not happy at home, it’s hard to be happy. So, starting in September (the new January), I dedicated a school year — from September through May — to concentrate on the factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, parenthood, body, neighborhood. If you’d like ... The post Need an Idea for a Gift for a Mother in Your Life? appeared first on Gretchen Rubin.

It’s time for the next installment of  “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” This episode was recorded live! Elizabeth and I were at Town Hall in Seattle on October 13. We had such a great time. Thanks to everyone who came.  Elizabeth and I had fun doing a live video on Facebook before the show. If you want to see what everything looked like, watch here. Elizabeth mentions the Seattle-based  novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. Try This at Home: Identify your “Happiness 911” song. Please send us your Happiness 911 song! Email your choice here. We’re making a Spotify playlist, so we can all listen to everyone’s choices. You can find the Spotify list here or on your smart-phone app, you can find the playlist by searching “happierwithgretchenrubin” (one word). Deep Dive: We take a closer look at manifestos. We talked about this in episode 76, and we’ve received so many great ones. (By the way, Adam loved Elizabeth’s Marriage Manifesto.) Interview: Chris Guillebeau. His latest book is Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do.   Happiness Stumbling Blocks for the Four Tendencies. If you want to take a ... The post Podcast 87: Live From Seattle! Pick Your “Happiness 911” Song, Deep Dive into Manifestos, an Interview with Chris Guillebeau, and More on the Four Tendencies. appeared first on Gretchen Rubin.

If you’re looking for ways to make 2016 a happier, healthier, more productive year, may I self-promotingly suggest my book, The Happiness Project? The first day of the new year always feels so fresh and full of promise to me — but at the same time, it’s very discouraging to look back over the year that’s just ended, and realize that I’d never accomplished an important, happiness-boosting change that I’d hoped to make. This feeling is one of the major reasons that I undertook my happiness project. I remember so clearly the moment when I had the idea to do it. I was on the 79th Street cross-town bus, and I looked out the window and thought, “What do I want from life anyway? I want to be happy.” I realized, though, that I didn’t spend any time thinking about whether I was happy, or how I could be happier. “I should have a happiness project!” I decided. I ran to the library the next day to get a big stack of books about happiness—and I had no notion of how much that single moment’s thought was going to shape my life, and bring me so much happiness. I divided the year into ...

Every Wednesday is List Day, or Tip Day, or Quiz Day. This Wednesday: The 10 inalienable rights of the reader. A thoughtful reader pointed out a wonderful list written by French author Daniel Pennac, in The Rights of the Reader. As someone who loves to read–practically to the exclusion of everything else–I love this list. The 10 Inalienable Rights of … →