Book #20: Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin

I wasn't really planning on reading this one of Rubin's books (especially since I read another book on habits last year), but I saw enough positive reviews about it that I decided to just go for it. The book was, of course, fantastically interesting. Rubin theorizes that the habits that make up our daily lives are essential to determining our happiness level. Once something is truly a habit, and not something we have to decide to do every day, it helps us to maintain our self-control and use it for other ventures we want to accomplish. If we can decide on and stick to establishing positive habits in our lives, we can really improve our health and standard of living.

Rubin writes about different motivations and ways that we can try to establish (or break) habits that we want to develop. She doesn't try to recommend specific habits, because she recognizes that different habits work for different people--and, more importantly, different methods of establishing habits work for different people as well. She developed a framework of four different personality types divided by how people respond to expectations--Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, and Rebel. Upholders respond well to internal and external expectations, Obligers only to external, Questioners only to internal, and Rebels to neither. (I'm pretty sure I'm an Obliger--I put priorities that affect other people first (like work for my class, even when I'd rather do something else) and don't always follow through on resolutions or goals that only affect or influence me (like healthy eating).) Depending on what your Tendency is, you'll be motivated in different ways to stick to habits that you set. These motivations might include monitoring (keeping track of what you're doing, like counting steps or budgeting), scheduling (putting things on the calendar), or several other options.

I like Rubin's writing style in some ways and not in others. I like how she kind of lays out her thought process and makes the whole thing open to you--she tells you where she comes up with ideas and conversations that spark thoughts for her. However, I was kind of annoyed by how know-it-all-ish she comes across in the book. She's constantly telling her friends and family about how they should improve their lives and which habits they should implement. Seriously, I am so glad I don't actually know her in real life. She seems WAY Type-A personality. But overall, this book was super motivating and made me want to try again at some of those never-ending resolutions of eating healthier, exercising better, and managing my time better.