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Meikles & Dimes

132: Gretchen Rubin | There Is No Magic, One-Size-Fits All Solution for Happiness

Apr 15, 2024
14:23

Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She’s the author of many bestselling books, such as The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, and The Four Tendencies, which have sold millions of copies in more than thirty languages. Her most recent book is Life in Five Senses.

She’s also host of the popular podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, and founder of the award-winning Happier app, which helps people track their happiness-boosting habits.

Gretchen 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! After starting her career in law, 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.

In this episode we discuss the following:

  • There is no magic. one-size-fits-all solution for happiness
  • No one can tell you the best way or the right way to be happy, just as there is no one best way to cook an egg.
  • One thing that was really hard for Gretchen to learn was what she enjoys versus what other people enjoy.
  • Samuel Johnson: "Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance is difficult."
  • Yogi Berra: "If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him."

Follow Gretchen:

X: https://twitter.com/gretchenrubin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchenrubin/

Website: https://gretchenrubin.com/

Follow Me:

X: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

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