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

Praise for Better Than Before

Do you have a bad habit youre trying to shake, or a good one you wish you could cultivate? Gretchen Rubin is one of the most charming and erudite authors of her generation. Here, she uses her gifts to help you eat right, sleep well, stop procrastinating and start enjoying all that life has to offer

Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of
Introverts in a World That Cant Stop Talking

Filled with insights about our patterns of behaviour, Better Than Before addresses one of lifes big and timeless questions: how can we transform ourselves? In a way thats thought-provoking, surprising and often funny, Gretchen Rubin provides us with the tools to build a life that truly reflects our goals and values

Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post
and bestselling author of Thrive

Gretchen Rubin combines deep research and observations from her own life to explain how habits emerge and more important how they can change. Its indispensable for anyone hoping to overhaul how they (almost unthinkingly) behave

Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit

Gretchen Rubins thesis is fascinating and persuasive

Guardian

Just read this book...Its about the psychology of habit and is an addictive and pleasing read (even for someone who is in the habit of reading a lot of such books about, er, changing habits). I strongly recommend it if you are looking to make some permanent changes in your life...Its excellent

Viv Groskop

Brilliantly addictive, fascinating and transformational

Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Bookseller

Gretchen Rubin is a writer after my own heart seriously brilliant, very warm, and funny. I think shes amazing

Anne Lamott

Is there a habit in your life youd like to change? If so, heres your first step: read this book. Its loaded with practical, everyday tips and techniques that will guide you to success

Dan Heath, co-author of bestsellers Made To Stick, Switch and Decisive

Almost everyone wants to be better slimmer, smarter, better looking, more interesting, more productive and we want to know were improving, we want the reinforcing evidence. Gretchen Rubins new masterpiece, Better than Before , shows us how. Unlike other books on habits, Rubins book gives us the specific tools and a blueprint for getting back on track the fast track

Brian Wansink, PhD. author of Slim By Design

Better Than Before is a force for real change. It rearranged what I thought I knew about my habits, and Im better for it

Bren Brown, bestselling author of Daring Greatly
and The Gift Of Imperfection

Better Than Before is a gem, and the first habit you should form is reading a chapter every night

Adam Grant, Wharton professor and bestselling author of Give And Take

Grab this now! Better Than Before is essential reading. In this generous and

actionable book, Gretchen Rubin helps us make sense of how privilege

and opportunity make so many of us unhappy, and shows how basic daily

choices can free us to make the most of what we have

Seth Godin, bestselling author of Linchpin

A LSO BY G RETCHEN R UBIN

The Happiness Project

Happier At Home

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Two Roads

An imprint of John Murray Press

An Hachette UK company

Copyright Gretchen Rubin 2015

The right of Gretchen Rubin to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any formor by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 444 76902 9

Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

338 Euston Road

London NW1 3BH

www.hodder.co.uk

For my family, again

The greatest of empires, is the empire over ones self.

Publilius Syrus

Contents

A Note to the Reader

Better Than Before tackles the question: How do we change ? One answerby using habits.

Habits are the invisible architecture of daily life. We repeat about 40 percent of our behavior almost daily, so our habits shape our existence, and our future. If we change our habits, we change our lives.

But that observation just raises another question: Okay, then, how do we change our habits ? Thats what this book seeks to answer.

But while Better Than Before explores how to change your habits, it wont tell you what particular habits to form. It wont tell you to exercise first thing in the morning, or to eat dessert twice a week, or to clear out your office. (Well, actually, there is one area where I do say what habit I think is best. But only one.)

The fact is, no one-size-fits-all solution exists. Its easy to dream that if we copy the habits of productive, creative people, well win similar success. But we each must cultivate the habits that work for us . Some people do better when they start small; others when they start big. Some people need to be held accountable; some defy accountability. Some thrive when they give themselves an occasional break from their good habits; others when they never break the chain. No wonder habit formation is so hard.

The most important thing is to know ourselves , and to choose the strategies that work for us.

Before you begin, identify a few habits that youd like to adopt, or changes youd like to make. Then, as you read, consider what steps you want to try. You may even want to note todays date on your books flyleaf, so youll remember when you began the process of change.

To help you shape your habits, I regularly post suggestions on my blog, and Ive also created many resources to help you make your life better than before. But I hope that the most compelling inspiration is the book you hold in your hands.

I see habits through the lens of my own experience, so this account is colored by my particular personality and interests. Well, you might think, if everyone forms habits differently, why should I bother to read a book about what someone else did?

During my study of habits and happiness, Ive noticed something surprising: I often learn more from one persons idiosyncratic experiences than I do from scientific studies or philosophical treatises. For this reason, Better Than Before is packed with individual examples of habit changes. You may not be tempted by Nutella, or travel too much for work, or struggle to keep a gratitude journal, but we can all learn from each other.

Its simple to change habits, but its not easy.

I hope that reading Better Than Before will encourage you to harness the power of habits to make change in your own life. Whenever you read this, and wherever you are, youre in the right place to begin.

BETTER THAN BEFORE

Decide Not to Decide

Introduction

It is a profoundly erroneous truism that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them.

A LFRED N ORTH W HITEHEAD ,
An Introduction to Mathematics

For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite features in any book, magazine, play, or TV show has been the before and after. Whenever I read those words, Im hooked. The thought of a transformationany kind of transformationthrills me. Whether the change is as important as quitting smoking, or as trivial as reorganizing a desk, I love to read about how and why someone made that change.