Book: Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
Author: Gretchen Rubin
Publisher/Publish Date: Broadway Books / December, 2015
I am so excited to get my hands on this book. While I haven't read Gretchen Rubin's previous book, The Happiness Project, I have been extremely enjoying the podcast that she does every week with her sister. A lot of the podcast talks about topics that are in this book, and I was excited to dive into them a little deeper.
If you're unfamiliar about what the books about, I will let the tagline on the cover explain things for you: "What I learned about making and breaking habits-to sleep more, quit sugar, procrastinate last, and generally build a happier life." That all sounds great, right? Well maybe not the quitting sugar part.
A self proclaimed "Street scientist," Ruben can explain a big idea in a very tangible, easy to understand way. And in doing so she makes it easier for us to understand ourselves and work to change the habits that form our daily lives. She takes science, and research and blends them together with their own observations of people to find new insight on habits: why some are hard to form and others we seem to acquire overnight, why some people adopt habits easily while others resist, and why the consequences of our habits (for example: poor health) don't always convince us to change our habits.
What I would call the thesis of the of the book is that to change our lives, research has shown that people that have good self-control simply spend less time resisting desires, and by creating good habits we can spend less time decision-making therefor needing less self-control to make positive decisions.
It was fun to discover if I was a lark or an owl, a marathoner, a sprinter, or a procrastinator, and under buyer or an over buyer. Well some of these things I sort of knew before, it was good to look at them from the point of view of how these traits can shape my daily habits. For example, I am a lark, I prefer for waking up early and getting to work right away. It reminds me that I should do a better job of getting to bed early so I can get up when I brain is most active.
This is book is great for anyone who's inquisitive about human habits, why we do the things we do, and how to change those things. So many great tidbits that anyone can apply to improve their quality of life.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
If you're unfamiliar about what the books about, I will let the tagline on the cover explain things for you: "What I learned about making and breaking habits-to sleep more, quit sugar, procrastinate last, and generally build a happier life." That all sounds great, right? Well maybe not the quitting sugar part.
A self proclaimed "Street scientist," Ruben can explain a big idea in a very tangible, easy to understand way. And in doing so she makes it easier for us to understand ourselves and work to change the habits that form our daily lives. She takes science, and research and blends them together with their own observations of people to find new insight on habits: why some are hard to form and others we seem to acquire overnight, why some people adopt habits easily while others resist, and why the consequences of our habits (for example: poor health) don't always convince us to change our habits.
What I would call the thesis of the of the book is that to change our lives, research has shown that people that have good self-control simply spend less time resisting desires, and by creating good habits we can spend less time decision-making therefor needing less self-control to make positive decisions.
It was fun to discover if I was a lark or an owl, a marathoner, a sprinter, or a procrastinator, and under buyer or an over buyer. Well some of these things I sort of knew before, it was good to look at them from the point of view of how these traits can shape my daily habits. For example, I am a lark, I prefer for waking up early and getting to work right away. It reminds me that I should do a better job of getting to bed early so I can get up when I brain is most active.
This is book is great for anyone who's inquisitive about human habits, why we do the things we do, and how to change those things. So many great tidbits that anyone can apply to improve their quality of life.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
