Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

by Gretchen Rubin

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.

• ISBN10: 0385348630
• ISBN13: 9780385348638
• Publish Date: 15 December 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385348638

Reviews

[Amanda]

The perfect book to read during the final days of December. Lots of information and anecdotes to consider as I think about what I want to accomplish in the next year.

[Hillary]

I was looking for ways to cement my gym and healthy eating habits. I seem to be stuck in a perpetual stop motion start quit with regards to going to the gym and my eating habits. I remember I had read this before, but I had forgotten a lot of it, so it was good that I read this.

 



 

What I liked

 

I loved how she set up the framework in an easy to understand way. I realized that I am an obliger. I do shit if it is just me but if I know someone is counting on me, then I will move heaven and earth to keep my word. This explains why I have been unable to commit to an at-home workout routine. If I want to ensure that I work out, then I have to go to the gym. I am not sure what it is expected there is no place to sit down there if I don't "feel" like doing my workout and also I always tell myself that I have already come to the gym may as well work out. Getting to the gym is a problem sometimes though. Lol

I thought that she take on habit formation was enlightghtening. I could do relate to her "loopholes." I must admit I do a lot of them. I know I am not doing myself any favors by doing this, but I can't seem to help it. Now that it is at the forefront of my mind and I know that it is just my brain trying to play tricks on me I can override it so that I can develop good habits.

 

What I did not like

Her constant pushing a low carb diet. Ughh. I am tempted to write her and tell her that Vegan is where it is at. I get what she is trying to say though but the fact that she was all low carb this low carb that blah blah got on my nerves after a while. She seems to think that there is only one way of eating and that is the low carb way. I wish that she had said that it was the way that worked for HER and for some other people a Vegan diet would be best. There is no one size fits all in regards to diet.

 

 



I feel that this shed some light on how habits are formed. It does not matter f you are trying to make a good habit stick, such s going to the gym, or if you are trying to stop smoking or overeating, we all need to know how our brains trips us up so we can be on the watch out for it.

 

                             Buy Borrow or skip

 





What habits are you trying to cultivate? 

 This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land