Better Than Before
What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Happiness Project and “a force for real change” (Brené Brown) examines how changing our habits can change our lives.
“If anyone can help us stop procrastinating, start exercising, or get organized, it’s Gretchen Rubin. The happiness guru takes a sledgehammer to old-fashioned notions about change.”—Parade
Most of us have a habit we’d like to change, and there’s no shortage of expert advice. But as we all know from tough experience, no magic, one-size-fits-all solution exists. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.
In Better Than Before, acclaimed writer Gretchen Rubin identifies every approach that actually works. She presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good.
Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better Than Before explains the (sometimes counterintuitive) core principles of habit formation and answers the most perplexing questions about habits:
• Why do we find it tough to create a habit for something we love to do?
• How can we keep our healthy habits when we’re surrounded by temptations?
• How can we help someone else change a habit?
Rubin reveals the true secret to habit change: first, we must know ourselves. When we shape our habits to suit ourselves, we can find success—even if we’ve failed before.
Whether you want to eat more healthfully, stop checking devices, or finish a project, the invaluable ideas in Better Than Before will start you working on your own habits—even before you’ve finished the book.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
It’s exciting to find a self-help book that’s not only full of eye-opening insight but also provides practical tips to help you procrastinate and stress less, exercise and eat more healthfully, and spend time on activities that matter. We’re really glad that Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, decided to investigate her affinity for habits, because in the process she’s come up with a great guide to help us lay the foundation of a more satisfying life. Best of all, Better Than Before is a really fun read—Rubin’s friendliness, candor, and humor mirror a lively conversation with a best friend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Rubin (The Happiness Project) returns with this fun and informative self-help tome on the ways we unthinkingly shape our lives with habits. As she shows, habits affect our lives in both positive and negative ways. By acquiring positive habits and eliminating negative ones, we can increase our overall happiness. "How we schedule our days is how we spend our lives," Rubin asserts. The subtitle calls to mind Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, suggesting a goal similar to Child's: to collect all the available information on the subject and break it down into components for readers to apply to their own lives. Writing that "we can build our habits only on the foundation of our own nature," Rubin goes on to identify four tendencies, or personality types, in relation to habit-formation: upholder, questioner, obliger, and rebel. Her style is clear, and her voice is accessible yet mildly egg-headed. Using quotations from William James and Samuel Johnson, citations of current research, and personal anecdotes, Rubin comes across as a quirky, know-it-all friend who really, really wants to help you improve your life.
Customer Reviews
Self-help Plus
This book has a wonderful power. It's self help and memoir that never looses sight of the big things in the little things that make life so amazing. It's so rich in story and memoir that the self-help guidance - you don't even realize you're following it while you're reading - until one moment something different seems to just happen. The sections also can stand alone if you prefer pieces.
Practical & thought provoking
This is one of her best books. I've already read it once and am in the process of rereading it and setting up the habits I want to change. Found some good insights into being more successful achieving what I want. If you want to make a change this is the perfect book to help you get where you want.
An inspiring experience
Loved the book. Found many habits similar to mine and could relate to them, some habits I want to adopt and some I don’t agree.. overall a great experience!!