“I wish I could not wish.”– Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin (@gretchenrubin) is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. She has an enormous readership, both in print and online, and her books have sold three million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages.

On her popular weekly podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, she discusses good habits and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft; they’ve been called the “Click and Clack of podcasters.” Her podcast was named in iTunes’s lists of “Best Podcasts of 2015” and was named in the Academy of Podcasters “Best Podcasts of 2016.”

Fast Company named Gretchen Rubin to its list of Most Creative People in Business, and she’s a member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100.

Enjoy!

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

• Connect with Gretchen Rubin:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

• The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin
• Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits–to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin
• 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 by Gretchen Rubin
• Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin
• Happier with Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft
• Meditate on Koans by Gretchen Rubin
• Power Money Fame Sex: A User’s Guide by Gretchen Rubin
• Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life by Gretchen Rubin
• Forty Ways to Look at JFK by Gretchen Rubin
• Profane Waste by Dana Hoey and Gretchen Craft Rubin
• Harold and Maude
• Scrivener
• Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
• A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander
• The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages by Frederick Bodmer and Lancelot Thomas Hogben
• Treadmill Desks
• Genuine Leather Weighted Bookmark
• Inside Happiness Guru Gretchen Rubin’s Office, NBC News
• Drowning in Clutter? Observe the One-Minute Rule. by Gretchen Rubin
• Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
• Gretchen Rubin on CreativeLive with Chase Jarvis
• Four Tendencies Quiz
• Fitbit Charge 2
• DietBet
• stickK
• Happier Episode 149: Identify Your “18 for 2018,” the Problem of Clutter-Creating In-Laws, and an Instagram Project.
• Happier in Hollywood
• Happier Episode 71: Choose a Signature Color, and Ask “Am I an Alchemist or a Leopard?” Plus FOMO.
• In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki
• Seeing with Your Tongue by Nicola Twilley, The New Yorker
• “Try This at Home” List
• Harry Potter Paperback Box Set by J.K. Rowling
• Tales of Magic Boxed Set by Edward Eager and N. M. Bodecker
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
• The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars
• Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You: A Novel by Peter Cameron
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio
• Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C.G. Jung
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• A Collection of Essays by George Orwell
• Samuel Johnson: The Major Works by Samuel Johnson
• How (and Why) to Keep a Time Log by Laura Vanderkam
• Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan
• Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Show Notes

• “I wish I could not wish.” Agree or disagree? [05:47]
• How did Gretchen begin her career in law, and what made her move on to writing? [08:16]
• What inspired Gretchen’s first book? [11:05]
• Did Gretchen quit being a lawyer before or after selling her first book? [14:04]
• In hindsight, what key lessons were learned by the process of writing and selling that first book? [16:29]
• How did Gretchen decide on her next book, and what ties together her body of work? [21:47]
• What is Gretchen’s note-taking system? What software does she use for composing a book? [25:25]
• Why does Gretchen recommend Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language? [31:03]
• What are the key ingredients to Gretchen’s home office? [34:42]
• What small changes does Gretchen recommend for people hoping to increase personal well-being and happiness? [40:29]
• End of day rituals and routines. [44:00]
• Morning routines. [45:30]
• Changes Gretchen has made in the past few years that have increased happiness and decreased anxiety and other negative emotions. [48:30]
• How are Gretchen’s children’s literature groups organized? [52:46]
• What qualifies a book for the young adult genre? [56:47]
• How does Gretchen use accountability? [1:00:49]
• Does Gretchen set new year’s resolutions? [1:10:38]
• Gretchen’s theme for the year is delegation. How does she plan to act on this? [1:14:07]
• Does Gretchen have a favorite failure? [1:16:21]
• One of Gretchen’s most worthwhile investments of time, money, or energy. [1:21:40]
• How did Gretchen start learning the basics of podcasting? [1:22:12]
• How has Gretchen gone about turning her podcast listeners into a community? [1:24:34]
• What would Gretchen’s billboard say? [1:28:29]
• Quotes Gretchen finds inspiring. [1:29:33]
• What “try this at home” episode of Gretchen’s podcast has had the strongest response to date? [1:40:30]
• How does Gretchen regain focus? [1:43:43]
• Short children’s and young adult titles everyone should try. [1:46:28]
• Adult books Gretchen has reread the most. [1:48:16]
• How many hours a week does Gretchen spend reading? [1:49:41]
• Per Gretchen’s Four Tendencies, what is my tendency? [1:53:21]
• “Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” -Novalis [1:59:53]

People Mentioned

Posted on: January 10, 2018.

Please check out Tribe of Mentors, my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers. Many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in Tribe of Mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you. Click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

Who was interviewed? Here's a very partial list: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and nearly 100 more. Check it all out by clicking here.