Happier with Gretchen Rubin

When I can’t let go of a mistake I made, I take comfort in the stories of highly skilled teams who made mistakes of their own.

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•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

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Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

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The fun of monoculture, a secret theme behind Steven Spielberg’s movies, and Jeff Probst visits a Survivor Fantasy League.

Episode highlights

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Something Making Us Happier: Halloween decorations and a special Survivor Fantasy League guest visit [00:36]

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I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You: Why seeing a movie in a theater beats watching at home [09:42]

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I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: Gretchen reveals Steven Spielberg’s secret theme [18:39]

Mentioned in this Episode

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Youglish

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

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Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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Ep. 610: Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling thriller author with over 100 million books in print and many hit TV adaptations, talks about his new book, Plot Twist, messy first drafts, how fiction is memoir, and the simple trick that leaves him with no excuses.

Episode highlights

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Why bestselling novelist, Harlan Coben, wrote a memoir about the writing life, and how the process differed from his other books. [04:33]

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“Fiction is memoir, and memoir is fiction.” [06:27]

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Whether you want to pursue writing, sculpting, or painting, it’s never too late. [16:38]

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Why characters don’t have to be likeable, and how “incremental ambition” helps you keep going. [32:00]

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Listener questions (and Harlan Coben’s answers) about modern technology in plotting, working with Reese Witherspoon, and book cover art [22:12]

Mentioned in this Episode

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Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft by Harlan Coben (Amazon, Bookshop)

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Harlan Coben’s novels

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Evaporated: Gone with the Gods podcast, about Japan’s “johatsu” (people who deliberately vanish)

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NYT profile of Harlan Coben

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Haruki Murakami and the baseball game where he decided to write a novel

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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I've come to see a great paradox at the heart of the "Open Door" stage: I want my daughters to know they're essential to my happiness, and also that my happiness doesn't depend on them.

Connect with Us:

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Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

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Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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A round-up of ideas for creating new morning habits, how to help your family form better morning habits, and why rethinking your daily routines can add more happiness and energy to your life.

Episode highlights

• Get early morning light to reset your body clock (01:11)
• Set a bedtime alarm (04:49)
• Stop the morning snooze battle (09:42)
• Build a rest ritual of 3-5 calming actions done before bed(22:38)

Mentioned in this Episode:

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Chasing the Sun by Linda Geddes (Amazon, Bookshop)

• Better Than Before (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Alarmy alarm clock app

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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A brilliant hack for getting more help with dinner, why a quest is more fun than a jaunt, and how we feel about desks.

Episode highlights:

• Try This At Home: Cultivate a magpie mind [07:10]
• Happiness Hack—Rename a chore to make it more appealing[16:00]
• Know Yourself Better— How do you like to work? [26:00]
• Demerits and Gold Stars: A sisterly trip to Dollywood [30:00]

Mentioned in this Episode:

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Download the Creativity Bingo here

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Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft by Harlan Coben (Amazon, Bookshop)

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The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (Amazon, Bookshop)

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SongTeller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton (Amazon, Bookshop)

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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I get such pleasure of thinking about iconic super-star Brad Pitt paying tribute to Chuck Palahniuk, and realizing what a gift he’d been given for his work.

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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For “Move Happier,” Gretchen talks with Marielle Segarra, host of NPR’s Life Kit, about ditching the all-or-nothing rule, making the most of everyday activities, and the importance of smell and lighting.

Episode highlights:

• Reduce friction: set out your gear the night before [00:00]
• The five-minute rule: tell yourself you only have to move for five minutes, and momentum carries you [00:00]
• Strength training basics: bodyweight moves like air squats and wall push-ups, no equipment needed [00:00]
• Why strength work matters for bone density, brain function, and joint health [00:00]

Mentioned in this Episode:

• NPR Life Kit: How to move more this year, featuring Michelle Segarra and Katy Bowman
• NPR Life Kit: It’s ok to run slow AF, featuring Martinus Evans
• NPR Life Kit: Get into strength training
• NPR Life Kit: How to stop procrastinating and start exercising
• Move 26 in ‘26 resources

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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We discuss the happiness of a trip with old friends, a way to reframe the task of taking our pills, and a surprising fact about GLP-1s.

Episode highlights

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Something Making Us Happier—Say “I’ve made this plan, come if you can,” & reframe prescriptions as “I’m lucky to live when my health issues can be fixed,” not “I have to take lots of pills”[00:00]

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I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You: Perfume sales and GLP-1s[00:00]

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Spotlight on a Tool—Find the full collection of Darker Secrets of Adulthood: Uncomfortable Truths for Our Complex Lives on Substack [00:00]

Mentioned in this Episode

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NYT: “Rise of GLP-1s Leaves Food Industry Holding Party-Size Bag” [Insert Link]

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Secrets of Adulthood (Gretchen’s Substack, including the Darker Secrets of Adulthood collection, Oct 21) [Insert Link]

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Secrets of Adulthood book [Insert Link]

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

A listener shares a Know Yourself Better discovery, Elizabeth reports on what she learned from her Summer of Off-White Delight, and a recommendation for a new daily game.

Episode highlights:

Try This at Home— Figure out your Tendency [02:10]

Happier Highlights— Elizabeth’s verdict on her Summer of Off-White Delight [15:34]

Know Yourself Better: Listener describes her “new-pet regret” [21:30]

Demerits and Gold Stars: Elizabeth’s Demerit: skipping posture exercises; Gretchen’s Gold Star: sticky notes [23:39]

Mentioned in this Episode:

⁠Anthropeum, the daily Met art guessing game⁠

⁠Try the Happier app monthly jump-start challenge⁠ (this month: 7 quick wins to clear the decks)

Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen (⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Bookshop⁠)

⁠Take the Four Tendencies quiz for free ⁠

Connect with Us:

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

Website: gretchenrubin.com

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

⁠Learn more about Gretchen’s Four Tendencies personality framework and take the free quiz.⁠

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify. It helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aphorisms are short, sharp, and easy to remember, and here are four surprising examples of one of my own: "What seems important isn't always what is important."

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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We revisit some of our favorite try-this-at-home tips for tapping into our five senses this fall. Some ideas might turn into new annual traditions; others might be fun for this year as a way to make the most of the season.

Episode Highlights:

• Choose a signature color for little bursts of happiness [01:20]
• Celebrate a minor holiday with a fast, low-effort breakfast [06:38]
• Make a five senses portrait to notice what's familiar [11:10]
• Organize a tasting for whiskey, tea, chocolate, or vanilla ice cream [22:56]
• Collect gratitude leaves each Thanksgiving [24:07]

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Better Than Before (Amazon, Bookshop)
• The Happiness Project (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Pantone color finder

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss how we’re using whimsy to find the right date to celebrate our “How do we learn what everyone knows?” day, and listeners share their brilliant tips for elevating your home and how to stop working against yourself (or others).

Episode highlights:

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Try this at home: Listeners propose imaginative dates for "What People Know" day [05:10]

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Four Tendencies Tips for Rebels: Personal policies, identity, and choosing instead of being told [15:55]

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Treat Your House like a Hotel—Add an outdoor shower or a backyard garden [01:35]

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Demerits and Gold Stars: Gretchen’s Demerit: stopped a health habit; Elizabeth’s Gold Star: Ferment statue in Kansas City [24:17]

Mentioned in this Episode:

•

Check out these new items in the Happiness Project Shop: Design Your Year (Deluxe Edition), Twelve-Day Countdown Calendar, Happiness Boost Tear-Away Deck

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Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (Amazon, Bookshop)

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In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (Amazon, Bookshop)

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've always loved Aesop's fables, but I've come to think the accepted morals don't always fit the stories.

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

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Turn party-planning stress into fun with a theme, and why one person downplaying can lead the other to overreact.

Episode highlights:

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Something Making Us Happier: Embrace a party theme. [00:40]

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I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: Gretchen’s Perfume Party [10:42]

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I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You: Gretchen’s insight on a comment that Elizabeth’s son, Jack, made about communication [19:41]

Mentioned in this episode:

•

Move 26 in '26 bingo card in The Happier app

•

PLOT TWIST by Harlan Coben (⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Bookshop⁠)

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Learn more about Gretchen's Four Tendencies personality framework and take the free quiz.

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify — it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s what we learned from our own Do-Spend September, and how to get a luxury-resort experience for a fraction of the cost. Plus: really, what can go in a microwave?

Episode highlights:

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Try This at Home— Reflect on Do-Spend September [03:10]

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Happiness Hack— Buy a hotel-pool day pass for a luxury "staycation" at a fraction of the cost of a room [11:24]

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Happiness Stumbling Block: Settling confusion on what can and can't go in the microwave [14:07]

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Demerits & Gold Stars: Elizabeth's demerit: not talking to friends on the phone enough; Gretchen's gold star: a surprise hoodie [21:33]

Mentioned in this episode:

•

Mercer Culinary bread knife

•

Real Simple/Whirlpool guide to what you can microwave

•

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (Amazon, Bookshop)

•

Virginia Woolf by Mary Ann Caws (Amazon)

•

Gretchen's free 7-Day Email Challenge, Boost Your Energy Through Movement

•

PLOT TWIST by Harlan Coben

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•
•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify — it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remembering the gracious words Dolly Parton used to decline a statue in her honor—and how that moment captured her humility, her love for Tennessee, and her commitment to doing good.

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Learn more about Gretchen's Four Tendencies personality framework and take the free quiz.

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit some of our most useful Four Tendencies conversations about Rebels, including listener advice for navigating school and ADHD, what actually motivates Rebels, and practical habit strategies shared by Rebels themselves.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• The Four Tendencies in Action Workbook
• The Four Tendencies Quiz

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss why we should make an effort to leave the house. Plus, a stumbling block related to “having a take,” and a simple hack for reconnecting with people.

Episode highlights:

• Try This At Home—Why leaving the house, even briefly, has a big effect on happiness [06:42]
• Happiness Hack: a tip for reconnecting with people you haven't talked to in a while [15:30]
• Happiness Stumbling Block— We don't have to have an opinion on everything [21:00]
• Demerits and Gold Stars: Gretchen’s Demerit: Leaving her shoe in a cab—Gold Star to the cab company! Elizabeth’s Gold Star: Dinner at the Garland Hotel [23:56]

Mentioned in this episode:

• Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draftby Harlan Coben — upcoming book club pick
• Kate Bowler's "Everything Happens" newsletter
• Free 7-Day Email Challenge: Boost Your Energy Through Movement
• Blacktail by Scott Hawkins (Amazon, Bookshop)

Connect with Us:

• Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
• Website: gretchenrubin.com
• Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft
• Learn more about Gretchen's Four Tendencies personality framework and take the free quiz.

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify — it helps other listeners find the show!
Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether through science, personal observation, or humor, short statements of these human “laws” help us understand that world we live in.

Connect with Us:

•

Email: podcast@gretchenrubin.com

•

Website: gretchenrubin.com

•

Instagram: @gretchenrubin | @lizcraft

•

Take Gretchen's free Four Tendencies quiz

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or rate us on Spotify—it helps other listeners find the show!

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices