How Understanding Your Personality Will Make Your Life Better with Gretchen Rubin

Today I talk to one of the most thought-provoking and influential writers on the subjects of happiness, habits and human nature. Gretchen Rubin has sold over 3 million books worldwide and also hosts the Happier with Gretchen podcast.

We begin the conversation discussing what happiness really means and why so many of us struggle with it. Happiness is such an elusive concept and Gretchen believes that it’s more helpful to think about being happier – to ask ourselves things like ‘if I do this, will I be happier next month or next year?’ or ‘will this bring me more love and less things like guilt, anger, resentment?’ These are simple questions that can actually make a profound difference to our lives.

We also talk about the fact that happiness does not mean that we will feel good all of the time. Sometimes we do things because they’re meaningful, or because they serve a higher value even though they don’t make us feel good in that moment.

If you are stuck in your life and feel as though you are not getting nourished by either your work or life situation but don’t know what to do, Gretchen shares some brilliant strategies to help guide you onto the right path. We also discuss how we can encourage our kids to find the right path for them.

We move on to talk about Gretchen’s insightful book, The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too). When researching human nature, Gretchen realised that by asking the simple question ‘How do I respond to expectations?’, we can gain life changing self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer to this question, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. I think you will love discovering what tendency you and those around you have. We discuss exactly what those tendencies are and how knowing them gives us six key benefits – we’re more likely to achieve our aims, make better decisions, meet deadlines, meet promises to ourselves, suffer less stress, and engage more deeply with others. The wonderful thing about understanding these tendencies is that not only do we get the best from ourselves, we get the best out of other people as well.

I really think that everyone will see themselves (and those around them) in one of these tendencies and that understanding them will improve the way you interact with yourself and others.

Disclaimer: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.*

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'Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy.'
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Connect with Gretchen:

Website     Instagram     Twitter      

Facebook     Gretchen’s podcast

Gretchen’s quiz

Gretchen’s books:Outer Order Inner Calm: declutter and organize to make more room for happiness†The Happiness Project, Tenth Anniversary Edition: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun†The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too)†Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits ― to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life † Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life†Interesting Articles:The Guardian Want to be happier? First, work out if you’re an ‘upholder’ or a ‘rebel’The Times What’s your personality type? Take the Gretchen Rubin testThe Times Meet Gretchen Rubin, the happiness bullyForbes Gretchen Rubin: How To Use The Four Tendencies To Improve Our LivesRelated Feel Better Live More podcast episodes:

#151 The Surprising Truth About Happiness with Professor Laurie Santos

#119 Esther Perel: Relationships and How They Shape Us

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*DISCLAIMER: Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

†Disclosure: All books marked with a † are hyperlinked to an affiliate program. We take part in Amazon’s affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon’s website. You are not charged any extra by using these links to purchase books.

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