#30 – Happiness expert Gretchen Rubin on hacking habits and happiness

The Role Models Podcast

Gretchen Rubin is a New York Times bestselling author, podcaster and happiness expert.

Gretchen started writing about happiness almost ten years ago, at a time when it wasn’t as much a part of our everyday dialogue as it is now. Over the years Gretchen has worked incredibly hard to identify not just her own core beliefs about happiness and habit forming, but also those which apply to a wider understanding of how different personality types respond to the inner and outer expectations which ultimately lead to feelings of contentedness.

Gretchen made the transition into writing by working (she says) “obsessively” on topics that interest her. This compulsion has led her to write nine different books including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers: The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home which have sold three million copies worldwide in more than thirty languages.

Alongside this, Gretchen also produces two podcasts and on her award-winning podcast “Happier with Gretchen Rubin” she discusses happiness and good habits with her sister Elizabeth Craft. The podcast was named in iTunes’s lists of “Best Podcasts of 2015” and was named in the Academy of Podcasters “Best Podcasts of 2016.”

Out of her extensive research Gretchen has created a number of different strategies to help us live more fulfilling lives. Today’s episode touches on many of these wider learnings, including:

• The “lightning bolt” strategy
• Why forming good habits is about setting up something effortless and automatic
• What our typical “Four Tendencies” are when responding to inner and outer expectations
• Why short-term definitions can be a good way of organizing our thoughts as opposed to forming definitive labels

There’s also some great advice in the episode for wannabe writers who are struggling to get started with the creative process.

Read more about Gretchen: https://gretchenrubin.com/ Listen to the “Happier” podcast: https://gretchenrubin.com/podcasts/ Take the “Four Tendencies” quiz: https://gretchenrubin.com/2015/01/ta-da-the-launch-of-my-quiz-on-the-four-tendencies-learn-about-yourself/

Photo by Andy Ryan

Thanks to our patrons for this episode:

• Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com
• Megan Quinn who supports Code2014: http://www.code2040.org
• Caoimhe Keogan: http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan
• Alexandra Cosma: http://alexandracosma.com
• Emma Harris

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