Gretchen Rubin's Blog, page 281

How Do You Like the Blog Re-Design?

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the new blog design. I hope you like it.

I started my blog more than three years ago, and I loved it, but it was crowded and messy. Things weren't organized in the most logical and efficient way, and it was beyond my tech capacity to shape them up much.

So I asked for help, got a great person to take on the project and – voila! Thanks Nathan Bowers!

Let me know if there's anything missing that you think is important, or anything that drives you crazy. Or even...

"Live Each Season As It Passes."

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."

--Henry David Thoreau

* Interested in starting your own happiness project? If you'd like to take a look at my personal Resolutions Chart, for inspiration, just email me at grubin, then the "at" sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. (Sorry about writing it in that roundabout way; I'm trying to thwart spammers.) Just write "Resolutions Chart" in the subject line.

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Embrace the Update, or, Why Is It So Hard to Turn on the TV?

I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday's post will help you think about your own happiness project.

I dread updates – when some computer program cheerfully but forcefully insists on doing an update; when some long-beloved appliance dies and is replaced with the newer, mysterious version of itself (why is it so hard...

We Should All Listen to Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs: "I'm very happy to be here today with you all. As some of you know about 5 months ago I had a liver transplant, so I now have the liver of a mid-20's person who died in a car crash. I wouldn't be here without such generosity. I hope all of us can be as generous and become organ donors."

If you support organ donation, be sure to let people know. Tell your family you want to be an organ donor. Sign the registry. Happiness is...living your values.

* Check out the Happiness Project...

Ten (More) Tips for Fighting Right with Your Sweetheart.

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.

This Wednesday: ten tips for how to fight right with your sweetheart.

My friend Karen Salmansohn has written several books on happiness -- The Bounce Back Book; How To Be Happy, Dammit; The Seven Lively Sins. Her new book, Prince Harming Syndrome, gives love advice by combining Aristotle's philosophy and modern cognitive therapy, with a kind of post-Sex and the City edge.

Her book covers a lot of ground about how to find "Prince Charming" instead of "Prince...

Why Might Small, Comfortable Changes Work Better than Radical Steps?

I just read a short, interesting book by Robert Maurer, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way.

I'm surprised I hadn't known about kaizen before. The Japanese term kaizen is an approach of using small steps of continuous improvement to bring about change. Instead of pursuing radical changes – which are ambitious, difficult, and often don't succeed – you take small, comfortable steps. Maurer points out that although kaizen developed in a business setting, it also applies to...

Put on Your Shoes.

I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too! Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday's post will help you think about your own happiness project. (I'm actually posting this on Thursday this week, because I'll be away from my computer on Friday.)

One of my favorite advocates for the strategy of working for happiness by taking manageable, concrete steps every...

Twelve Tips to Create a Happier (and More Productive) Workplace.

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.

This Wednesday: 12 tips to create a happier (and more productive) workplace.

I just finished First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. I'd heard about it for years, but I didn't actually pick up a copy until a smart friend told me to read it.

The authors did a study with the Gallup Organization to find a way, among other things, to measure strong workplaces, ones that would attract and retain the most productive employees.

They came up...

Chanting, Kissing, and Reading.

From time to time, I post short interviews with interesting people about their insights on happiness. During my research, I've noticed that I often learn more from one person's highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal principles or cite up-to-date studies.

I feel a bond with writer Amy Ferris because we both had our big happiness realizations while driving – well, she was driving on Route 80, and I was riding the cross-town bus on 79th Street, but that's...