223 - In My Top 5: Gretchen Rubin

You asked and I listened. This week on the podcast, I'm thrilled to welcome author Gretchen Rubin.

Gretchen is one of the most influential writers in the world on human nature. She hosts an award-winning podcast and her best-selling books have been published in 30 countries and sold over 3 million copies!

On the podcast, we talked about Gretchen's most recent book, The Four Tendencies, and how your personality type relates to getting your home organized.

Which Personality Type Are You?

Gretchen explained that the The Four Tendencies are four different personality types:

• Upholder
• Questioner
• Obliger
• Rebel

You can probably tell which one you are just from the name! But if you want to take the survey for free, visit gretchenrubin.com.

Gretchen explained that these personality types vary depending on what motivates you. We're all motivated by two main kinds of expectations:

• Outer Expectations: such as a work deadline or request from a friend
• Inner Expectations: our own desire to do things

Upholders readily meet both types of expectations. Questioners question all expectations, so they'll only do something if they're convinced it makes sense. They make everything an inner expectation and object to anything they see as inefficient or irrational.

Then there are Obligers, those who readily meet outer expectations (things other people want), but struggle to meet inner ones (the things they want). I think there are a lot of you out there!

Finally, there are Rebels, those who resist all expectations, both outer and inner.

Obliger is the most common type of tendency, with Rebel and Upholder being least common.

Listen to the podcast to find out which tendency I have. Hint: No one guessed it correctly on Facebook!

Making The Sunday Basket® Work For Your Personality Type

I enjoyed telling Gretchen about the Sunday Basket® and it was interesting to unravel that it's my Obliger audience who were saying, "We need you to go through the Sunday Basket® with us on Sunday."

I'm so pleased that I created the Sunday Basket® Club to give people the outer accountability that they need.

How Does Personality Type Affect Home Organization?

I think we have all of the tendencies in our family of 4! So how does this help us to get our homes organized, especially when dealing with the variety of tendencies in our family?

I listened with great interest to Gretchen's advice on how to get the home organized when taking personality types into account.

Gretchen explained that a big problem for Obligers is that they often struggle to delegate tasks. Do you recognize this tendency in yourself? This is where it helps to have people hold you accountable.

Another great tip that Gretchen gave is one that I've heard myself say before… if you want to clean out the spare room, invite guests. That may well be the only thing that you need to do!

Your Habits = Your Identity

Like Dr Phil always used to say – You have an identity from being cluttered, but then you get organized and you have a new identity. So you have to really focus on that. Once you become organized, you ARE living a different kind of life.

We don't realize how much of our life is habitual.

This is why both mine and Gretchen's podcasts ask so many questions. It's to help people think about making choices and changing habits.

I LOVED talking to Gretchen. She concluded on the show that if we have habits that work for us, we're much more likely to be healthier, happier, and more creative.

Hey, have you signed up to join me in Dallas, Texas for the Organize 365 National Convention? I can't wait to meet you and give you a BIG hug!

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