Quotes from Gretchen Rubin

Secret of Adulthood: Make sure the things we do to make ourselves feel better don't make us feel worse.

by politely asking questions ..., we often can clarify our approach, prevent false steps and needless work, and end up with a better result

Studies show that people tend to persevere longer with problems they've been told are difficult as opposed to easy.

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.

A University of Exeter study showed that people who have control over their workspace design are happier at work, more motivated, healthier, and up to 32 percent more productive.

There's no right or best way to create a better life. Nevertheless, while each of us may define and achieve outer order in different ways, it's clear that for most people, outer order does indeed contribute to inner calm.

Understanding the Four Tendencies gives us a richer understanding of the world.

the habit of bed making is correlated with a sense of greater well-being and higher productivity. Other common broken windows include having a messy car; accumulating piles of laundry or trash; not being able to find important items, like a passport or a phone charger; hanging on to stacks of newspapers, magazines, and catalogs; wearing pajamas or sweats all day; or not shaving or showering

70 percent of long-term gym memberships are mostly unused, but a dog needs walking every day.

Also, there was a Princeton study that found that visual clutter reduces your ability to focus and process information.

We all know the secret of dieting...it's the application that's challenging. p 7

Pierre Reverdy: "There is no love; there are only proofs of love.

Think about appearances. I wanted my apartment to be less cluttered, and also to look less cluttered.

Although many people believe that habits form in twenty-one days, when researchers at University College London examined how long people took to adopt a daily habit, such as drinking water or doing sit-ups, they found that, on average, a habit took sixty-six days to form.

by mindfully shaping our habits, we can harness the power of mindlessness as a sweeping force for serenity, energy, and growth.

One of the biggest wastes of time is doing something well that didn't need to be done at all.

Keep a sense of humor. Over and over, I see that levity helps diffuse practically any difficult situation—which

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.

I went online to compare different colors of noise. White encompassed all audible frequencies and reminded me of TV static; pink was a mix of frequencies, with reduced higher frequencies, with a sound closer to ocean waves or falling rain; brown sounded lower, with the hint of a rumble, like a strong wind; blue was higher, with a hissing quality, like water spraying from a hose; green supposedly captured the background sound of nature; black noise was…silence.

Something that can be done at any time is often done at no time. Do it now, or decide when you'll do it.

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

Frankl observed, "In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice." *

When I clean up that mess, I'm always surprised by the disproportionate energy and cheer I gain, plus I'm able to find my keys.

When life was taking its ordinary course, it was hard to remember what really mattered.