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. - Gretchen Rubin 1 Share Now -
Work done by other people sounds easy. How hard can it be to take care of a newborn who sleeps 20 hours a day? How hard can it be to keep track of your billable hours? To travel for one night for business? To get a 4-year-old ready for school? To return a few phone calls? To load the dishwasher? To fill out some forms? - Gretchen Rubin 2 Share Now -
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, we're free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower. - Gretchen Rubin 3 Share Now -
Skillful conversationalists can explore disagreements and make points in ways that feel constructive and positive rather than combative or corrective. - Gretchen Rubin 4 Share Now -
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. - Gretchen Rubin 5 Share Now -
Growing up in Kansas City, I was always neat, the teacher's pet, know-it-all type. - Gretchen Rubin 6 Share Now -
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. - Gretchen Rubin 7 Share Now -
It was my interest in happiness that led me to the subject of habits, and of course, the study of habits is really the study of happiness. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, and a significant element of happiness. - Gretchen Rubin 8 Share Now -
Like most people, I have several pet subjects - that may or may not be interesting to other people. Don't get me started on happiness, or habits, or children's literature, or Winston Churchill, unless you really want to talk about it. - Gretchen Rubin 9 Share Now -
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. - Gretchen Rubin 10 Share Now -
