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Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin Quotes

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Gretchen Rubin is a renowned American author and psychologist, born in 1966. Her work primarily focuses on personal habits, happiness, and self-improvement. Rubin's book 'The Happiness Project' has gained international acclaim, and through her research and practice, she helps readers explore how to achieve personal happiness.

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All People Authentic Happiness Ifs Way Thinking Feelings Feels Habit Happiness Needs Self Want Giving Persons Shows Bigs Important Made Make Me Happy Can Do

Famous Gretchen Rubin Quotes

“Turn off your email; turn off your phone; disconnect from the Internet; figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master.”

Way Needs Turns Technology Figures Masters Internet Limits Phones Servant Email Turn Off Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get the habit started, then - and this is the best part - we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. At that point, were free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower.”

Want Needs Use Form Decision Habit Extraordinary Decision Making Willpower Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Some kind of clutter is difficult - letting go of things with sentimental value, sifting through papers - but some clutter I find very refreshing to clear. I drive my daughters nuts because I'm always wandering into their rooms to clear clutter.”

Kind Values Difficult Rooms Clear Letting Go Paper Daughter Wander My Daughter Nuts Sentimental Papers Clutter Refreshing Authentic Happiness Sifting Sentimental Value

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“We need to have intimate, enduring bonds; we need to be able to confide; we need to feel that we belong; we need to be able to get support, and just as important for happiness, to give support. We need many kinds of relationships; for one thing, we need friends.”

Needs Giving Feels Kind Important Able Support One Thing Endure Intimate Authentic Happiness Friend In Need

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Lower the bar. Actually spending ten minutes clearing off one shelf is better than fantasizing about spending a weekend cleaning out the basement.”

Perfect Enemy Minutes Ten Spending Bars Weekend Shelves Cleaning Basements Clearing Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Often, if there's something that I want to do, but somehow can't get myself to do, it's because I don't have clarity. This lack of clarity often arises from a feeling of ambivalence - I want to do something, but I don't want to do it; or I want one thing, but I also want something else that conflicts with it.”

Ifs Want Feelings One Thing Conflict Arise Clarity Want Something Ambivalence Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“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.”

Way Giving May Sometimes Helping Bigs Energy Interest Loses Habit Easier Majors Stress Transformation Excitement Minors Insignificant Authentic Happiness Major Change Under Stress

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“The biggest waste of time is to do well something that we need not do at all.”

Needs Wells Waste Wasting Time Authentic Happiness

Book:Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

Source: Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

“Getting paperwork under control makes me feel more in control of my life generally.”

Feels Paperwork Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“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.”

Beautiful Natural Perfect Cities Cases Tree New York Eternal Clouds Tiny Setting Settings Awe New York City Elegant Backyards Sidewalk Skyscraper Awe Inspiring Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“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.'”

Thinking Use Effort Break Identity Habit Strategy Familiar Clarity Convenience Sixteen Monitoring Before And After Make Or Break Authentic Happiness Scheduling

Book:The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More

Source: The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More

“When we don't get any treats, we feel depleted, resentful, and angry, and we feel justified in self-indulgence. We start to crave comfort - and grab that comfort wherever we can, even if it means breaking good habits.”

Ifs Feels Mean Self Habit Comfort Treats Angry Justified Crave Indulgence Resentful Good Habits Self Indulgence Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“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.”

Country Past Humanity Energy Effort Quality Leader Danger Kings Ordinary Brave Traditional Britain Heroic Limitless Authentic Happiness Magnanimous

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

Source: Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life

“Superstition is the irrational belief that an object or behavior has the power to influence an outcome, when there's no logical connection between them. Most of us aren't superstitious - but most of us are a 'littlestitious.'”

Belief Influence Objects Behavior Connections Outcomes Logical Superstitions Irrational Superstitious Authentic Happiness Irrational Beliefs

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Happiness is a critical factor for work, and work is a critical factor for happiness. In one of those life-isn’t-fair results, it turns out that the happy out-perform the less happy.”

People Turns Hours Results Week Fairs Critical Factors Happy People Free Time Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“I have a lucky perfume. I love beautiful smells, but I save one of my favorite perfumes to wear only when I feel like I need some extra luck.”

Needs Feels Beautiful Love Is Lucky Luck My Favorite Smell Extras Perfume Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“I've found that I snack less and concentrate better when I chew on a plastic stirrer - the kind that you get to stir your to-go coffee. I picked up this habit from my husband, who loves to chew on things. His favorite chew-toy is a plastic pen top, and gnawed pen tops and little bits of plastic litter our apartment.”

Kind Littles Found Bits Habit Husband Little Bit Coffee My Husband Pens Plastic Toys Apartment Snacks Authentic Happiness Stirrers

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“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.”

Source: Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life

“Remember that although the distinction can be difficult to draw, loneliness and solitude are different.”

Different Remember Difficult Loneliness Solitude Draws Distinction Loneliness And Solitude Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.”

Form Dangerous Procrastination Authentic Happiness Human Error

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they’re big, flashing signs that something needs to change.”

Needs Important Play Bigs Emotion Roles Loneliness Negative Guilt Envy Happy Life Need A Change Negative Emotions Authentic Happiness

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find — and I hear from other people that they agree — that getting rid of clutter gives a disproportionate boost to happiness.”

People Giving Agree Happy Life Desks Coats Closets Scope Messy Clutter Boost Authentic Happiness Trivial Things

Author:Gretchen Rubin

“Being taken for granted is an unpleasant but sincere form of praise. Ironically, the more reliable you are and the less you complain, the more likely you are to be taken for granted.”

Form Taken Praise Complaining Granted Sincere Taken For Granted Authentic Happiness Took For Granted

Book:The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More

Source: The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More