The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

by Gretchen Rubin

Enthusiasm is more important to mastery than innate ability, it turns out, because the single most important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice. Therefore, career experts argue, you’re better off pursuing a profession that comes easily and that you love, because that’s where you’ll be more eager to practice and thereby earn a competitive advantage. I love writing, reading, research, note taking, analysis, and criticism. (Well, I don’t actually love writing, but then practically no writer actually loves the writing part.) My past, when I thought back, was littered with clues that I wanted to be a writer. I’d written two novels, now locked in a drawer. I’ve always spent most of my free time reading. I take voluminous notes for no apparent reason. I majored in English. And the biggest clue: I was writing a book in my free time.

More and more, I pay attention to any spark of enthusiasm. Say, if I get interested in the subject of placebo (as I am), I let myself follow that enthusiasm, even if I don't really understand why I'm doing it. It's so much fun! I used to tell myself, "Stay focused, don't get distracted by subjects that aren't relevant to your writing project," but now I let myself go. And as you might predict, those enthusiasms often end up being very useful with my "work." For instance, when I was writing THE FOUR TENDENCIES, I had a hooky-book that I would work on, just for fun, when I wanted a break. It was a chance to explore a subject that has always fascinated me: why outer order contributes to inner calm, and how to create outer order. I worked on this project just because I got such a kick out of it -- and then voila, it turned into its own book, OUTER ORDER, INNER CALM. If I hadn't followed my enthusiasm, I might never have started it.