Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Craft Rubin is an American author, blogger and speaker...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
activity elements love truly
One of the most important elements of my identity is my identity as a reader. I love to read - really, if I'm honest with myself, it's practically the only activity that I truly love to do.
container love rid
I love cunning containers as much as anyone, but I've found that if I get rid of everything I don't need, I often don't need a container at all.
against biography both churchill easy fancy figures learned love mostly passive strong using winston words work
It's so easy to use tired, shopworn figures of speech. I love using long, fancy words but have learned - mostly from writing my biography of Winston Churchill - that short, strong words work better. I am ever-vigilant against the passive and against jargon, both of which are so insidious.
dividing love people
I love taxonomies, categories, ways of dividing people into groups.
inventing love ways
I love finding - or inventing - ways to categorize people.
collect complex distilled few love teaching
I collect axioms, paradoxes, maxims, teaching stories, proverbs, and aphorisms of all sorts, because I love to see complex ideas distilled into a few words.
book change enjoy mind next sad start subject time whenever
Whenever I start a new book, I think, 'This is the most interesting subject of all time. It's sad, I'll never enjoy writing another book as much as I enjoy this one.' Every time, I'm convinced. And then I change my mind when I start the next book.
accepting agree far next seems
When accepting a responsibility, imagine that it's something that you'll have to do next week. That way you don't agree to something just because it seems so far off that it doesn't seem onerous.
build ending entire expressed felt home remember satisfied wrote
One thing that makes me very happy is to have a complicated idea and to feel that I've expressed myself clearly. I remember writing the ending to 'Happier at Home.' I wrote the entire book to build to that ending 'now is now,' and what I had to say was very abstract, and yet I felt satisfied that I managed to say what I wanted to say.
constantly happier happiness hunt somewhat tiresome
I'm constantly on the hunt for insights about happiness or ideas about how to be happier - which probably makes me a somewhat tiresome companion at times.
exactly time
I read a lot, all the time, but often I read books for research, or because they're interesting to me in some way, even if they aren't exactly 'pleasurable.'
energy gives might novel people resolve running sentence series wants
A series of small but real accomplishments gives people the energy and confidence to continue. For instance, a person who wants to write a novel might resolve to write one sentence each day. Or a person who wants to start running might resolve to run for one minute.
inner outer
One of my most important 'Secrets of Adulthood': Outer order contributes to inner calm.
If you want someone else to do a task, don't do it yourself.