Quotes from Gretchen Rubin

Having less often leads us to use our things more often and with more enjoyment, because we're not fighting our way through a welter of unwanted stuff.

Questioners ... can add tremendous value to relationships and organizations by ensuring that they-and the people around them- don't unthinkingly accept expectations that aren't well justified

Questioners are often puzzled by others' willingness to act without sound reasons.

I don't want to reject my life. I want to change my life without changing my life.

once the habit is in place, we can effortlessly do the things we want to do.

The simple, decisive question was: How do you respond to expectations?

the real key to habits is decision making—or, more accurately, the lack of decision making

It turns out that stating a problem clearly often suggests its solution. p 32

As Samuel Johnson said, To hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy.

One of my favorite Zen sayings is "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

In the Strategy of Pairing, I couple two activities, one that I need or want to do, and one that I don't particularly want to do, to get myself to accomplish them both. It's not a reward, it's not a treat, it's just a pairing.

I started thinking more about music. I thought I'd accepted the fact that, as part of Being Gretchen, I didn't really like music, but in fact, the truth was slightly different: I thought I didn't like music, but in fact, I didn't approve of my own taste--I wished I liked sophisticated music, like jazz or classical or esoteric rock. Instead, my taste ran mostly to what might play on a lite FM station. Oh, well. Be Gretchen.

Self-measurement brings self-awareness, and self-awareness strengthens our self-control.

You're not happy unless you think you're happy.

Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.

In many ways, the happiness of having children falls into the kind of happiness that could be called fog happiness. Fog is elusive. Fog surrounds you and transforms the atmosphere, but when you try to examine it, it vanishes. Fog happiness is the kind of happiness you get from activities that, closely examined, don't really seem to bring much happiness at all—yet somehow they do.

I started to apply the "one-minute rule"; I didn't postpone any task that could be done in less than one minute.

According to Aristotle, "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.

Over the years, I've learned that it's important that we give ourselves treats—which may sound self-indulgent or frivolous, but it's not. When we give more to ourselves, we can ask more from ourselves. Treats help us to stick to challenging goals, resist unhealthy temptations, and shrug off small irritations. When we don't get any treats, we can begin to feel burned-out, depleted, and resentful.

To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right.

For Rebels, the ability to choose is so important that sometimes they make a choice—even when it's against their own self-interest or it's not what they prefer—just to reassure themselves that they can make that choice.

One study estimated that for every hour of interrupted sleep during the previous night, people wasted 8.4 minutes in online puttering

The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: "What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.

Actually spending ten minutes clearing off one shelf is better than fantasizing about spending a weekend cleaning out the basement.