Most Popular Books by Gretchen Rubin

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Happiness Project and “a force for real change” (Brené Brown) examines how changing our habits can change our lives. “If anyone can help us stop procrastinating, start exercising, or get organized, it’s Gretchen Rubin. The happiness guru takes a sledgehammer to old-fashioned notions about change.”—Parade Most of us have a habit we’d like to change, and there’s no shortage of expert advice. But as we all know from tough experience, no magic, one-size-fits-all solution exists. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives. In Better Than Before, acclaimed writer Gretchen Rubin identifies every approach that actually works. She presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good. Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better Than Before explains the (sometimes counterintuitive) core principles of habit formation and answers the most perplexing questions about habits: • Why do we find it tough to create a habit for something we love to do? • How can we keep our healthy habits when we’re surrounded by temptations? • How can we help someone else change a habit? Rubin reveals the true secret to habit change: first, we must know ourselves. When we shape our habits to suit ourselves, we can find success—even if we’ve failed before. Whether you want to eat more healthfully, stop checking devices, or finish a project, the invaluable ideas in Better Than Before will start you working on your own habits—even before you’ve finished the book.

In the spirit of her blockbuster #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place. One Sunday afternoon, as she unloaded the dishwasher, Gretchen Rubin felt hit by a wave of homesickness. Homesick—why? She was standing right in her own kitchen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. “Of all the elements of a happy life,” she thought, “my home is the most important.” In a flash, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on home. And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed her, and energized her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much happiness was there already. So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year—September through May—to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love. In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family’s treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster. Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions—and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well. With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy, and experimentation, Rubin’s passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

“This book made me happy in the first five pages.” —AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically: One Man''s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible Award-winning author Gretchen Rubin is back with a bang, with The Happiness Project. The author of the bestselling 40 Ways to Look at Winston Churchill has produced a work that is “a cross between the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love.” (Sonya Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want) In the vein of Julie and Julia, The Happiness Project describes one person’s year-long attempt to discover what leads to true contentment. Drawing at once on cutting-edge science, classical philosophy, and real-world applicability, Rubin has written an engaging, eminently relatable chronicle of transformation.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this lovely, easy-to-use illustrated guide to decluttering, the beloved author of The Happiness Project shows us how to take control of our stuff—and, by extension, our lives. Gretchen Rubin knows firsthand that creating order can make our lives happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. But for most of us, a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution doesn''t work. When we tailor our approach to suit our own particular challenges and habits, we can find inner calm. With a sense of fun, and a clear idea of what’s realistic for most people, Rubin suggests dozens of manageable tips and tricks for creating a more serene, orderly environment, including: • Never label anything “miscellaneous.” • Ask yourself, “Do I need more than one?” • Don’t aim for minimalism. • Remember: If you can’t retrieve it, you won’t use it. • Stay current with a child’s interests. • Beware the urge to “procrasticlear.” By getting rid of things we don’t use, don’t need, or don’t love, we free our minds (and our shelves) for what we truly value.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Gretchen Rubin’s year-long experiment to discover how to create true happiness. Drawing on cutting-edge science, classical philosophy, and real-world examples, Rubin delivers an engaging, eminently relatable chronicle of transformation. This special 10th Anniversary edition features a Conversation with Gretchen Rubin, Happiness Project Stories, a guide to creating your own happiness project, a list of dozens of free resources, and more. “An enlightening, laugh-aloud read. . . . Filled with open, honest glimpses into [Rubin’s] real life, woven together with constant doses of humor.”—Christian Science Monitor Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but the years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account—now updated with new material by the author—Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference. This updated edition includes: · An extensive new interview with the author · Stories of other people’s life-changing happiness projects · A resource guide to the dozens of free resources created for readers · The Happiness Project Manifesto · An excerpt from Gretchen Rubin’s bestselling book The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles that Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. “Life in Five Senses invites us into the seismic shift toward a life grounded in sensation, vitality, and innate intelligence.”—GLENNON DOYLE, author of Untamed “An inspiring and practical guide to living in the moment.”—SUSAN CAIN, author of Bittersweet and Quiet For more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She’d spent so much time stuck in her head that she’d allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world invigorated by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world. From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding favorite songs to a playlist, to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending a flavor university, Rubin shows us how to experience each day with depth, delight, and connection. In the rush of daily life, she finds, our five senses offer us immediate, sustainable ways to cheer up, calm down, and engage the world around us—as well as ways to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent. Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Are you an Upholder, a Questioner, an Obliger, or a Rebel? From the author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project comes a groundbreaking analysis of personality type that “will immediately improve every area of your life” (Melissa Urban, co-founder of the Whole30). During her multibook investigation into human nature, Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question “How do I respond to expectations?” we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: • Upholders meet outer and inner expectations readily. “Discipline is my freedom.” • Questioners meet inner expectations, but meet outer expectations only if they make sense. “If you convince me why, I’ll comply.” • Obligers (the largest Tendency) meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations—therefore, they need outer accountability to meet inner expectations. “You can count on me, and I’m counting on you to count on me.” • Rebels (the smallest group) resist all expectations, outer and inner alike. They do what they choose to do, when they choose to do it, and typically they don’t tell themselves what to do. “You can’t make me, and neither can I.” Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively. It’s far easier to succeed when you know what works for you. With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative.

365 days. 5 years. 1,825 happy moments.The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal for Mothersis the ideal project for moms who want to capture the everyday moments of their child''s growth but are naturally short on time. Based on the book,Happier at Homeby Gretchen Rubin, this five-year journal will help you make a time capsule of your family''s growth in the simplest way possible. You can start at any point in the year. Simply turn to today''s date, and take a few moments to think about the quote or question on the top of the page. Jot down your thoughts and perhaps a note or reflection about your child. As the years go by you''ll notice how your children evolve and discover the aspects about your family that lead to lasting happiness. The quotes are interesting, funny, and always thought provoking. The diary can be started on any day of the year but makes a terrific gift for the New Year or Mother''s Day.

A WALL STREET JOURNAL SUMMER PICK A WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER Warrior and writer, genius and crank, rider in the British cavalry’s last great charge and inventor of the tank, Winston Churchill led Britain to fight alone against Nazi Germany in the fateful year of 1940 and set the standard for leading a democracy at war. With penetrating insight and vivid anecdotes, Gretchen Rubin makes Churchill accessible and meaningful to twenty-first-century readers by analyzing the many contrasting views of the man: he was an alcoholic, he was not; he was an anachronism, he was a visionary; he was a racist, he was a humanitarian; he was the most quotable man in the history of the English language, he was a bore. Like no other portrait of its famous subject, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill is a dazzling display of facts more improbable than fiction. It brings to full realization the depiction of a man too fabulous for any novelist to construct, too complex for even the longest narrative to describe, and too significant ever to be forgotten.

Profane Waste~ISBN 0-9743648-3-5 U.S. $25.00 / Hardcover, 8.5 x 10.5 in. / 75 pgs / 30 color. ~Item / June / Photography

The author dissects the tactics of Warren Buffett, Muhammad Ali, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Nixon, Princess Diana, and other successful people, to reveal how power plays are made in the real world.

The Happiness Coloring Book features 20 illustrated nuggets of happy-making wisdom pulled from Gretchen Rubin''s entertaining exploration of happiness, changing habits and personal growth she has detailed in her bestselling books. Printed on sturdy art board, each image can be colored in, pulled out, and hung for inspirational display. Artist and hand-letterer Clairice Gifford has designed each image to create surprising, serenity-inducing coloring pages that will be beautiful to behold.

From the author of BETTER THAN BEFORE u003e ''A LOT OF US WOULD LIKE A RUBIN IN OUR LIVES'' The Times Magazine - ''EXTRAORDINARY'' Viv Groskop, The Times Style - ''FASCINATING, PERSUASIVE'' Guardian - ''A LIFE-CHANGER'' The Pool Did you love The Happiness Project, Happier at Home and Better Than Before? New York Times bestselling author and award-winning podcaster Gretchen Rubin celebrates ten years of blogging with a special commemorative ebook. This collection offers Gretchen''s best articles from a decade of studying happiness and habits. From her first day as a blogger to the happiest day of her life, Rubin relives the moments that have helped us understand our habits, improve our relationships, and lead happier lives. Whether you''re a longtime fan who has read Gretchen''s recent New York Times bestsellers The Happiness Project, Happier at Home and Better Than Before, or a new convert from her wildly popular podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, this funny and poignant compilation will entertain and inspire you in your own pursuit of happiness and good habits.

About forty percent of daily life is shaped by habit, so when we follow good habits, it''s much easier to be happier, healthier, productive, and creative. This habit tracker prompts you to record specific progress and choose from Gretchen Rubin''s "21 Strategies for Habit Change" to help you build your habits and achieve your aims. The pages provide structure and flexibility, with space to visualize progress in different ways, use "pass" stickers if you need to take a day off, award yourself gold-star stickers to celebrate your milestones, get reminders from Gretchen Rubin''s Habits Manifesto, and suggestions for ways to use this tracker effectively. "Don''t break the chain" is a powerful strategy for building daily habits, and this tracker makes it easier to maintain.

Changes, big and small, are a fact of life. In this journal, you''ll find prompts designed to help you reflect on your experiences, interests, and values so you can move forward in the ways that are right for you.

It''s easy to be distracted by the way we wish we were, or think we ought to be, or what others think we should be, until we lose sight of what''s actually true. The Know Yourself Better Journal is made for anyone who wishes to gain insight into themselves, but needs more direction than a blank page. In this journal, you''ll find questions and distinctions based on Gretchen Rubin''s work, meant to help you develop self-compassion and understanding, and discover ways you might make your life a little happier.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before distills her key insights into simple truths for living with greater satisfaction, clarity, and happiness. The right idea, invoked at the right time, can change our lives. Drawing from her long studies of happiness, and also from the challenges she’s faced herself, writer Gretchen Rubin has discovered the “Secrets of Adulthood” that can help us manage the complexities of life. To convey her conclusions, she turned to the aphorism—the ancient literary discipline that demands that a writer convey a large truth in a few words. Perhaps you’re paralyzed by indecision, struggling to navigate a big change, fighting a temptation, or puzzled by the behavior of someone you love; whatever you face, the right aphorism can help. From procrastination to the pursuit of happiness, Secrets of Adulthood is filled with witty and thought-provoking reflections such as: “Recognize that, like sleeping with a big dog in a small bed, things that are uncomfortable can also be comforting” “Accept yourself, expect more from yourself” “Easy children raise good parents” “What can be done at any time is often done at no time” For anyone undergoing a major life transition, such as graduation, career switch, marriage, or moving, or for those just encountering everyday dilemmas, these disarmingly brief aphorisms will inspire you by articulating truths that you never before noticed—and instantly recognize.

The Tackle Box is filled with five sticky pads to help you stay organized and tackle your daily tasks. The tin box includes "To Do" and "To Day" lists to check off your tasks, a "Ta-Da" list to celebrate your accomplishments, a "Could Do" list to keep your options open, and a "To Doodle" pad to let your creativity flow. Productivity looks different for everyone, and The Tackle Box is designed to help you find what works for you.

The Muse Machine is a collection of indirect directions--150 cards with somewhat mysterious creative prompts to consult whenever you feel stuck. The directions are short, suggestive, and open-ended, so that they spark unexpected insights. Whether you''re writing a novel, finishing your thesis, marketing a product, writing a newsletter, giving a toast, painting a picture, or posting on social media, we all use creativity in our daily lives. This card deck will help you ignite your imagination.

Life feels richer and more memorable when each season feels distinctive. This guide is designed to help you shape your year, season by season, with reminders to stop, reflect, and consider what changes could make your life happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. There''s no one-size-fits-all solution for happiness and good habits. The exercises in this guide, inspired by the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, offer many creative ways to approach building habits and accomplishing your aims for the year. You can start any time.

Ancient philosophers and modern scientists agree: a key to happiness is strong relationships with other people. This journal is designed to help you put your loving feelings into words and create a meaningful keepsake as a gift for an important person in your life. The prompts guide you through recording your favorite memories and capturing the things you''ve always wanted to say.

The Memento Keepsake Journal is made for those who want to collect keepsakes of their memories to look back on, but are overwhelmed by souvenirs or the prospect of scrapbooking. Recalling happy times can boost happiness in the present, and mementos are a powerful way to keep those memories vivid. This journal provides safekeeping pockets designed to help you curate the most meaningful mementos tied to your memories, with space on every page to add notes, photos, stickers, or other artifacts to take the guesswork out of your personal storytelling. Use this keepsake journal to save family memories, records from school, travel souvenirs, artifacts from your year, or any other meaningful mementos on which you''d like to look back.