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Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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intentions," also known as "action triggers" or "if-then" planning. "If ________ happens, then I will do _______." With "if-then" planning, we try to plan for every habit challenge that might arise, so we don't make decisions in the heat of the moment--we've already decided how to behave."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light." --G. K. Chesterton What's" --
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Gretchen Rubin |
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The Strategy of Scheduling, of setting a specific, regular time for an activity to recur, is one of the most familiar and powerful strategies of habit formation
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Nietzsche wrote, "All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking," and his observation is backed up by science; exercise-induced brain chemicals help people think clearly. In fact, just stepping outside clarifies thinking and boosts energy. Light deprivation is one reason that people feel tired, and even five minutes of daylight stimulates production of serotonin and dopamine, brain chemicals that improve mood."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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When scheduling a new habit, it helps to tie it to an existing habit, such as "after breakfast," or to an external cue, such as "when my alarm rings," because without such a trigger, it's easy to forget to do the new action."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I wasn't as happy as I could be, and my life wasn't going to change unless I made it change.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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The opposite of happiness is unhappiness, not depression.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Thoreau admonished, "Our life is frittered away by detail.... Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" This longing for simplicity is so powerful and complex that it needs its own term, much like nostalgie de la boue (yearning for the mud) or wabi sabi (the beauty of the imperfect and impermanent). When I asked on my blog if anyone knew a term to capture this idea, one reader coined the wonderful word "Waldenlust." This longing takes several fo..
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Gretchen Rubin |
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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 outperform the less happy. Happy people work more hours each week--and they work more in their free time, too. They tend to be more cooperative, less self-centered, and more willing to help other people--say, by sharing information or pitching in to help a colleague--and then, because the..
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Secret of Adulthood: Make sure the things we do to make ourselves feel better don't make us feel worse.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Studies show that people tend to persevere longer with problems they've been told are difficult as opposed to easy.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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70 percent of long-term gym memberships are mostly unused, but a dog needs walking every day.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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We all know the secret of dieting...it's the application that's challenging. p 7
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Think about appearances. I wanted my apartment to be less cluttered, and also to look less cluttered.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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It turns out that stating a problem clearly often suggests its solution. p 32
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Gretchen Rubin |
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As Michel de Montaigne observed, "The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful; the best occupations are the least forced." p 233"
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Self-measurement brings self-awareness, and self-awareness strengthens our self-control.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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day three days a week for six weeks,
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Gretchen Rubin |
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It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I used to think I was pretty typical, but now I see that I'm extreme. I can't judge people according to what works for me.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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To a truly remarkable extent, we're more likely to do something if it's convenient, and less likely if it's not. For this reason, we should pay close attention to the convenience of any activity we want to make into a habit.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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mere acquisition isn't enough to establish a good habit
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Hugging relieves stress, boosts feelings of closeness, and even squelches pain. In one study, people assigned to give five hugs each day for a month, aiming to hug as many different people as they could, became happier.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I wasn't sure how to answer. Could I tell him that one Secret of Adulthood is "Never start a sentence with the words 'No offense'"?"
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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If I feel anxious about the fact that I haven't started, I become even more reluctant to start, which just makes me more anxious.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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After someone's death, how strange to see the value drain away from his or her possessions; useful objects such as clothes, or dish towels, or personal papers become little more than trash.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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When life was taking its ordinary course, it was hard to remember what really mattered.
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inspirational
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Eventually, I decided to count my daily walk or cross-country ski as a treat--my time for myself in a day otherwise filled with responsibilities. Somehow, that made it much easier to make it a priority.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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My happiness project was both. I wanted to perfect my character, but given my nature, that would probably involve charts, deliverables, to-do lists, new vocabulary terms, and compulsive note taking.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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One day, I'd stop twisting my hair, and wearing running shoes all the time, and eating exactly the same food every day. I'd remember my friends' birthdays, I'd learn Photoshop, I wouldn't let my daughter watch TV during breakfast. I'd read Shakespeare. I'd spend more time laughing and having fun, I'd be more polite, I'd visit museums more often, I wouldn't be scared to drive.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I didn't want to be like the novelist who spent so much time rewriting his first sentence that he never wrote his second.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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One of my most helpful Secrets of Adulthood is "What I do every day matters more than what I do once in a while."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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For most people, whenever possible, important habits should be scheduled for the morning. Mornings tend to unfold in a predictable way, and as the day goes on, more complications arise--
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Gretchen Rubin |
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For instance, in The Artist's Way, her influential book about cultivating creativity, Julia Cameron suggests scheduling an "artist's date,"
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I had everything I could possibly want--yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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The happiest, healthiest, most productive people aren't those from a particular Tendency, but rather they're the people who have figured out how to harness the strengths of their Tendency, counteract the weaknesses, and build the lives that work for them.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Many strategies help us change our habits, and four strategies tower above the others: Monitoring, Foundation, Scheduling, and Accountability.
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Gretchen Rubin |
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On Three Ways of Writing for Children": When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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I was surprised to learn from my research, however, that the well-known notion of anger catharsis is poppycock. There's no evidence for the belief that "letting off steam" is healthy or constructive. In fact, studies show that aggressively expressing anger doesn't relieve anger but amplifies it. On the other hand, not expressing anger often allows it to disappear without leaving ugly traces."
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Gretchen Rubin |
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Just because we're doesn't mean we're being productive. Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.
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working
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Gretchen Rubin |