Happiness Project 2012 Calendar

by Gretchen Rubin

Adapted from Gretchen Rubin s #1 "New York Times" bestselling book and lively, popular blog, "The Happiness Project "is a calendar with a novel and life-changing approach to finding what everyone wants: happiness. Weaving together philosophy, scientific research, history, analysis, and real-life experiences, it s a year of engaging and effective tips, quotes, lists, insights, and inspiration. The dos and don ts of New Year s Resolutions. Eight Great Movies on the Nature of Happiness and Love. Plus The Science of Happiness, The Secrets of Adulthood, and Gretchen s Twelve Personal Commandments. Day by day, you "will" become happier.
"

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Audiobook

320 pages, Calendar

Published July 15, 2011

About the author

Out now: "Secrets of Adulthood"
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before distills her key insights into simple truths for living with greater satisfaction, clarity, and happiness. Order your copy of "Secrets of Adulthood" today.

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 thirty languages. Her next book Secrets of Adulthood comes out April 2025.

She’s the host of the popular, award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, where she and her co-host (and sister) Elizabeth Craft explore strategies and insights about how to make life happier. As the founder of The Happiness Project, she has helped create imaginative products for people to use in their own happiness projects.

She has been interviewed by Oprah, eaten dinner with Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman, walked arm-in-arm with the Dalai Lama, had her work reported on in a medical journal, been written up in the New Yorker, and been an answer on Jeopardy!

Gretchen Rubin started her career in law, and she realized she wanted to be a writer while she was clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Raised in Kansas City, she lives in New York City with her family.

Reviews

[Kari Selleck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit long winded, but it had a lot of good tidbits throughout. I’m glad I read it, but wouldn’t read it again.

[Amine Khadyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a mompereneur who spent last 2years at home, this book immediately caught my eye because I was looking for some tips on how to make my days more fun at home. At first, I guess I did not understand the whole point of her resolutions and all and left book on my bookshelf for over 3 months. Then as I have this little rule of myself that I never leave a book unfinished, either I finish it or I never start at all, I picked it up back and read it all. Well, as a organizational psychologist I can say that her happiness resolutions as she already mentions in the book were not scientifically, evidence based. She tried anything she thought would make her happy. However I think she is a courageous woman. I loved her being Gretchen although most of the traits (quick-tempered, debater, criticizer) were not things that I like. She is a real committer. It is not easy to keep a resolution for over 3 weeks, most new year resolutions fail to continue after 3rd week of January yet she was able to keep hers for a year! I think it was a nice read; I may come back to some of her points in the future. Lastly my favorite quote from the book was “days are long, years are short”.

[Nguyen Anh · Rating 2 out of 5]

That the book received so many negative comments from the reader community but still hit on the bestseller list made me decide to read this one. It was quite hard to read at the beginning and Gretchen's way of interpreting was a bit strange when compared to that in the other self-help books, nevertheless, I tried to make it till the end.
Her remedies for a happier was interesting, yet not practical in every crisis. I do believe that happiness could be a physical satisfaction and money was such a mean of contentment, but those were truly temporary feelings. Further, trying to be happy is definitely not a good solution for real pleasure, I would rather choose to listen to my inner part and fix myself than using her suggestion.
Overall, I think "Happiness project" was not a disaster since each of us has a different ecstasy of happiness, honestly. I could not relate myself to her book and also hardly expect a book-for-soul like this tho... Rate 2 stars and not recommend to read :)

[Emma Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this thinking it sounded like a really nice idea, something that everyone can do with their own set of principles. However, whilst there were some nice little tips, I really couldn't relate to the author, and found myself getting really annoyed at the book being peppered with inspirational and philosophical quotes from Nieztsche, for example. I found myself thinking I wanted to here her voice not someone else's, and just felt that they were added in there for a bit of added intelligence, which was highly unnecessary.
I have taken away a few good tips, but on the whole I found myself getting more annoyed than inspired. Shame.
Don't let that put you off however, I just didn't connect with the author, personally.

[Jennifer Villa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I've just read a bunch of happiness books and I was a little disappointed that this one didn't offer anything new to the table. Although Rubin's book was uplifting, I found it to be way too personal to her life and facetiously marketed as a "Start Your Own Happiness Project" when it's really not. It was a nice, light read but I didn't take away any sensational, fresh knowledge or awareness.

[Roya Khalili · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was awful. Very simple subject, and not compatible solution. I seriously not recommended to read it.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book due to inner expectations (Questioner) but I resisted finishing this book on my work group’s deadline cuz I didn’t feel like it (Rebel). It felt like a project, reading this book - it was satisfying to finish (completely agree with decluttering as a happiness contribution!).

And now Goodwill can expand its coffers. Outer order contributes to inner calm.

[Melismacraig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic! I loved the combination of research and personal anecdote. Gretchen Rubin makes me want to Be Gretchen. But through this book, she taught me to find joy in BEing Melissa. One of my favorite reads this year!

[Ashley Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Enthusiasm is a form of social courage”

“People teach what they need to learn”

“I wanted to use my time well, and to wander and play”

“Marriage has a strange muffling affect on some kinds of deep communications.”

[Nicole Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book and the author’s personality definitely shined through. That also meant that it dragged at times and I had to really push through to the end. A little rambly…research could have been woven in better but great points. Definitely makes you think.

[Fetcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audio - Hard a hard time relating or finding meaningful content. I quit when she said her goal was not to finish all books she started. Figured why should I finish and waste more of my time.

You are not happy, unless you think you are happy.

Come up with my own happiness project.

Dali Lama Art of Happiness

Be present in the experience each day.

[Dana Lynn]

Made me want to hostess a dinner by fresh flowers.

[Suzie Dunlop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fair crack!

[Patrick Saba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought it was a good read. Appreciated the insight, and outlines. Have me some perspective and allowed me to reflect on my own life.

[Walkerzoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** mindless listen

[Ranya Gramny · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing the last page of the book. I thought:"I should write a review of this book!"
I love the way Gretchen's admiration of Benjamin Franklin can get her to a practical dimension. And as I love her book I hope I'll have the same approach as her, and actually apply her tips. I started reading this book at Ramadan; therefore, I had two pushing factors to positive change, obviously Ramadan and secondary Gretchen's book.
This book confirmed my belief that seeking happiness is not a selfish act, but the contrary. It has added a simple, yet wonderful change to my life. Now I have my resolution chart, and I think that once you get your resolution chart you will always have it. By the will of God!
There are some points which Gretchen makes in her book, that I disagree on. For example, she explains the researchers' finding of that religious people are happier, because -and that's her claim- they have much time of not talking to themselves (therefore they avoid self-criticism) rather with the Devine during prayer. However, it could be that her claim is true, but still, I think religion or prayer adds to one's life more than distracting him from criticizing himself. One info that has been astonishing to me, is that during prayer oxytocin release gets higher in the body. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps us cope with pressure. However, I'm not going to tackle on religious praises in my review, I just made my point.
I just have to say that this book worth reading!

[Susan Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Happiness Project is a good book about finding happiness. The book's writing is powerful because of how she is trying to find happiness. The book is about the author's personal experiences with life. The author starts a happiness project which is ways to become more happy. The whole book is about the author's experiences with life while she is trying to be more happy in life. I find this book to be a great way to try what she did to become more happy or you could start your own happiness project. I believe that we should try to make our own happiness project to become more happy in life. The audience would appreciate this book because it tells you ways to become more happy. The purpose of the book is to show people that you can become more happy in life if you try. I would recommend this book to people who are unhappy with life or they want to become more happy.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I thought she had too many comments by her blog readers in the book, but you can just skim those. I like her writing style and she had a lot of good things to think about. What changes can we make in our lives to have more joy? It seemed like for her when she was working on her relationships with others and when service was her goal, she got the most joy. I think that would be the case for all of us.

Also, the more work you put into something, the more happiness you have. You have more happiness working on and finishing a project than just watching tv. Yet many just watch tv because you can put less energy into it. It takes less effort.

[Bastiaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author took me along on a 12-month journey on finding happiness. This book gives a great insight in what actually can be done to improve happiness, and what is at the root of happiness. Furthermore, it is easy to read an interesting story. As the book explains, happiness is a very broad term, and as this book tries to cover many different aspects of happiness, it can sometimes be seen as a little bit hollow. However, framed positively: this book is a great summary of many thousands pages of research and books written in the broad scene of wellbeing and happiness. :)

[Shiroyuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book is interesting in its own way, how Gretchen makes it fun to read as a first person, and how she gave examples of how her happiness project went. Like humans, no one is perfect, and with imperfection, there are certain times we know we cannot keep to what we started out to do. But what is important is the persistence and passion for the project that we started on. I think it serves as an encouragement to people who are actively looking for answers and/or want to make changes to their lives.

I fully agree that change can only start within ourselves

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy read and had some interesting statistics and random quotes by Samuel Johnson. The majority is everything you have heard before however, I thought it was nice that she didn't cover up the fact that she failed often and her natural base-state is sub-par. One interesting statistic was that people's happiness, regardless of gender, are more happy the more women they have in their life due to our natural inclination to listen intentionally and nurture our relationships.

[Arnold Saputra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring book about the happiness principle of gretchen rubin. In the beginning this book told us about the problem that the author and how she solve it with simple principle. From the middle to the end it's all about monthly diary about Gretchen living the principles and how it change her life's.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book. Not amazing, but good. I can say I gained simple, yet profound insights into what makes a person happy and what keeps a person from being happier. I say it is a good book because it caused me to reflect on my own life and identify the attitudes and actions I choose daily that are keeping me from authentic happiness.

[Akshatha Shetty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre... Started off well but eventually there was a lot going on. She gives great advice on how growth contributes to happiness and quick tips on how to be efficient. Overall it sounded like the happiness project is for someone that has too much time on their hands or someone without a full time job. As a full time professional, I couldn’t relate.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can only handle self help books in small doses. Some of the principles she teaches/lived were great, some common practice to me and some not what I would focus on. It was a good telling though of her year of trying to be more happy and to be true to herself.

[TLP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a recent convert to Gretchen and her teachings through books, podcasts, online and interviews. It may help that our personalities are similar but I find her thought process and research-based recommendations to be both efficient and effective. I’m looking forward to more of her work...

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went through a similar project in 2010. It was interesting to see the similarities for comparisons. We are very different people who love their family and want the most out of life. I get more out of the podcast than this book, but it's nice to have this validated.

[Connor Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought the book hoping there would be advice applicable to all audiences. Was throughly disappointed that the advice is only applicable for married women with kids. I'm a single 24 y.o. male. The only thing I found helpful was making "commandments" for yourself.

[Alison Topper · Rating 5 out of 5]

good practical ideas. not something to read straight thru.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stuff we all know and forget to practice. Great life refresher.