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Gretchen Rubin

Goodreads Author

Born

Kansas City, Missouri, The United States

Website

http://www.gretchenrubin.com

Twitter

gretchenrubin

Genre

Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Health, Mind & Body

Member Since

July 2009

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https://www.goodreads.com/gretchen_rubin

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NEW AUDIBLE ORIGINAL AUDIOBOOK

In "Get It Done: How to Complete Your Dream Project," bestselling author Gretchen Rubin brings her signature approach to help you finally complete your dream project.

Drawing on her decades of knowledge of how people successfully change behavior, Rubin offers tools to help you break down any big project, stay focused, and keep moving forward. LISTEN ON AUDIBLE

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AUTHOR BIO

Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature.

She’s the author of many New York Times bestselling books, such as The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, and The Four Tendencies, Life in Five Senses, and Secrets of Adulthood, which have sold millions of copies in more than thi ...more

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Gretchen Rubin’s books

Average rating: 3.68 · 304,312 ratings · 28,768 reviews · 47 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Happiness Project 3.65 avg rating — 182,637 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives 3.82 avg rating — 42,796 ratings — published 2015 — 63 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better 3.83 avg rating — 24,162 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin (Goodreads Author), Käthe Mazur (narrator) 3.55 avg rating — 20,419 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness 3.55 avg rating — 17,871 ratings — published 2019	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World 3.71 avg rating — 8,529 ratings — published 2023 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives 3.33 avg rating — 3,900 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life 3.78 avg rating — 1,199 ratings — published 2003 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Happiness Project 2012 Calendar 3.64 avg rating — 687 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Best of the Happiness Project Blog: Ten Years of Happiness, Good Habits, and More 3.95 avg rating — 373 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Gretchen Rubin's Blog

Secret of Adulthood: The Days Are Long, But the Years Are Short

An earlier version of this article appeared May 27, 2014

In all the time I’ve spent studying happiness, habits, and human nature, this one sentence has reached people more than anything else I’ve written: The days are long, but the years are short.

If you’ve heard this line somewhere and wondered where it came from, here I tell the story of a daily ride on the city bus, my

Series by Gretchen Rubin

Better Than Before (1 book)
by

Gretchen Rubin (Goodreads Author)

3.82 avg rating — 42,993 ratings

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." -Jim Rohn Ah, January! The time of optimistic promises,...

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Gretchen Rubin has read All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:54PM · 13 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Gretchen Rubin has read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fiction, Readers' Favorite Debut Novel, Readers' Favorite Audiobook	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:53PM · 19 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Correspondent by Virginia Evans <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Gretchen Rubin has read Name Them―They Fly Better: Pat Hammond's Theory of Aerodynamics by Christopher Ornelas	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:53PM · 2 likes · like
Gretchen Rubin has read Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:52PM · 1 like · like
Gretchen Rubin finished reading ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:52PM · 4 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Gretchen Rubin has read One Afternoon by Siân James	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:51PM · 1 like · like
Gretchen Rubin has read Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:40PM · 2 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Gretchen Rubin has read Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 01, 2026 12:40PM · 2 likes · like
Gretchen Rubin has read The Priory by Dorothy Whipple	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 01, 2026 11:59AM · 8 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Priory by Dorothy Whipple. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Priory by Dorothy Whipple <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Gretchen Rubin has read Train Dreams by Denis Johnson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 01, 2026 11:57AM · 1 like · like

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Quotes by Gretchen Rubin (?)

“The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.”
― Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

tags: feelings, giving, happiness, selfishness, selflessness

714 likes

“The days are long, but the years are short.”
― Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

468 likes

“Never start a sentence with the words 'No offense.”
― Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

tags: hypocrisy, kindness, offensive, politeness, tact

251 likes

See all Gretchen Rubin's quotes »

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The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

5 votes, 83.3%

The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size by Julia Cameron

1 vote, 16.7%

6 total votes

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Gretchen’s Quotes

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, An Apology for Idlers

tags: happiness, inspiration

61 likes

Gretchen’s Friend Comments

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message 1: by Luisa

Aug 19, 2009 04:07AM

I love Flannery O'Connor's works. But then I like a variety of writers and different genres.

Good seeing a title I hadn't read.

Luisa

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