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Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin Books

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“Once I started trying to give positive reviews, though, I began to understand how much happiness I took from the joyous ones in my life---and how much effort it must take for them to be consistently good=tempered and positive. It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light. We nonjoyous types suck energy and cheer from the joyous ones; we rely on them to buoy us with their good spirit and to cushion our agitation and anxiety. At the same time, because of a dark element in human nature, we're sometimes provoked to try to shake the enthusiastic, cheery folk out of their fog of illusion---to make them see that the play was stupid, the money was wasted, the meeting was pointless. Instead of shielding their joy, we blast it.”

HappinessJoyOptimismPessimism
Book:The Happiness Project
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“It's true that novelty and challenge bring happiness...but routine can also bring happiness. The pleasure of doing the same thing in the same way every day...take[s] on a certain beauty and provide[s] a kind of invisible architecture...”

HappinessBeautyMindfulnessRoutineLife Rhythm
Book:Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
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“I remind myself, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." (Cribbed from Voltaire.) A twenty-minute walk that I do is better than the four-mile run that I don't do. The imperfect book that gets published is better than the perfect book that never leaves my computer. The dinner party of take-out Chinese food is better than the elegant dinner that I never host.”

ActionImperfectionPerfectionism
Book:Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
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“Rebels aren't persuaded by arguments such as 'People are counting on you,' 'You've already paid for it'...'Things should be done this way,' 'You have an appointment,' 'You said you'd do it'...'It's against the rules,' 'It's a tradition,' 'This is the deadline,' or 'It's rude.' They're much more apt to respond to being told 'This will be fun,' 'This is what *you* want'...Rebels can do anything they *want* to do.”

PersonalityRebellionRebelPersuasionResistant
Book:The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better
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“We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period, and underestimate what we can do over a long period, provided we work slowly and consistently. Anthony Trollope, the nineteenth-century writer who managed to be a prolific novelist while also revolutionizing the British postal system, observed, “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” Over the long run, the unglamorous habit of frequency fosters both productivity and creativity.”

IfsLongRunningCan DoCreativityCenturyHabitPeriodsBeatsTasksBritishProductivityNovelistsLabourLong RunsConsistentlyUnderestimateFrequencyNineteenth CenturyOverestimateDaily Tasks
Author:Gretchen Rubin
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“Contemporary research shows that happy people are more altruistic, more productive, more helpful, more likable, more creative, more resilient, more interested in others, friendlier, and healthier. Happy people make better friends, colleagues, and citizens.”

PeopleShowsCreativeCitizensResearchContemporaryProductiveHelpfulColleaguesResilientHappy People
Book:The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun
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“Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it's easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. There's an excitement and an energy that comes from a big transformation, and that helps to create a habit.”

WayGivingMaySometimesHelpingBigsEnergyInterestLosesHabitEasierMajorsStressTransformationExcitementMinorsInsignificantAuthentic HappinessMajor ChangeUnder Stress
Author:Gretchen Rubin
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“Nature is impersonal, awe-inspiring, elegant, eternal. It's geometrically perfect. It's tiny and gigantic. You can travel far to be in a beautiful natural setting, or you can observe it in your backyard - or, in my case, in the trees lining New York City sidewalks, or in the clouds above skyscrapers.”

BeautifulNaturalPerfectCitiesCasesTreeNew YorkEternalCloudsTinySettingSettingsAweNew York CityElegantBackyardsSidewalkSkyscraperAwe InspiringAuthentic Happiness
Author:Gretchen Rubin
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“In 'Before and After,' I identify the sixteen strategies that we can use to make or break our habits. Some are quite familiar, such as 'Monitoring,' 'Scheduling,' and 'Convenience.' Some took me a lot of effort to identify, such as 'Thinking,' 'Identity,' and 'Clarity.'”

ThinkingUseEffortBreakIdentityHabitStrategyFamiliarClarityConvenienceSixteenMonitoringBefore And AfterMake Or BreakAuthentic HappinessScheduling
Book:The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More
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“No leader did more for his country than Winston Churchill. Brave, magnanimous, traditional, he was like a king-general from Britain's heroic past. His gigantic qualities set him apart from ordinary humanity; there seemed no danger he feared, no effort too great for his limitless energies.”

CountryPastHumanityEnergyEffortQualityLeaderDangerKingsOrdinaryBraveTraditionalBritainHeroicLimitlessAuthentic HappinessMagnanimous
Book:Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life
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“When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.”

PeopleMayGovernmentLastsSpiritNationsChallengesQualityVisionBearsSpeechUniqueOptimismBritishSupremeMinistersPrimeHeroicPrime MinisterSplendidUnshakableAuthentic HappinessChamberlain
Book:Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life
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