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My Twelve Commandments

  • 1. Be Gretchen.
  • 2. Let it go.
  • 3. Act as I would feel.
  • 4. Do it now.
  • 5. Be polite and be fair.
  • 6. Enjoy the process.
  • 7. Spend out.
  • 8. Identify the problem.
  • 9. Lighten up.
  • 10. Do what ought to be done.
  • 11. No calculation.
  • 12. There is only love.

If you'd like a copy of my resolutions chart

  • Just drop me an email. The first part is grubin (then that familiar symbol). The second part is gretchenrubin (then a period, then a com). Sorry to be convoluted--because of spam.

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.

Secrets of Adulthood.

  • By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished.
  • People don’t notice your mistakes and flaws as much as you think.
  • It's nice to have plenty of money.
  • Most decisions don't require extensive research.
  • Try not to let yourself get too hungry.
  • Even if you think they are fake holidays, it's nice to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day.
  • If you can't find something, clean up.
  • The days are long, but the years are short.
  • Someplace, keep an empty shelf.
  • Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch.
  • It's okay to ask for help.
  • You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you LIKE to do.
  • Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy.
  • What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.
  • You don't have to be good at everything.
  • Soap and water removes most stains.
  • It's important to be nice to EVERYONE.
  • You know as much as most people.
  • Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.
  • Eat better, eat less, exercise more.
  • What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.
  • People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry.
  • Houseplants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.
  • If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.
  • No deposit, no return.

Month-by-month goals for the Happiness Project.

  • December: The way of perfection.
  • November: Take the extra step.
  • October: Try hypnosis.
  • September: Write a novel.
  • August: Contemplate the heavens.
  • July: Buy a white t-shirt; throw away a white t-shirt.
  • June: Eat a peach.
  • May: Laugh out loud.
  • April: Remember birthdays.
  • March: Start a blog.
  • February: Sing in the morning.
  • January: Clear my closets.

My areas of focus for the Happiness Project

  • 1. Order
  • 2. Marriage and Family
  • 3. Work and Leisure
  • 4. Friends
  • 5. Conduct of Life--Exterior
    (loving-kindness, the duty to be happy, etc.)
  • 6. Conduct of Life--Interior
    (accept myself, live in the moment, etc.)

Happiness theories I reject.

  • Vauvenargues: “There are men who are happy without knowing it.”
  • Eric Hoffer: “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
  • Sartre: "Hell is other people."
  • Willa Cather: “One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them…”
  • Alexander Smith: “We are never happy; we can only remember that we were so once.”
  • John Stuart Mill: “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
  • G.K. Chesterton: “Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.”
  • Solon: “Let no man be called happy before his death. Till then, he is not happy, only lucky.”

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This Wednesday: tips for boosting your ability to concentrate.

RodinEvery Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: Tips for boosting your ability to concentrate.

1. Chew gum. According to a recent study, chewing gum improves memory by increasing blood flow to the relevant brain regions.

2. Or chew on a plastic stirrer. I don’t like gum, but I find that keeping one of those plastic coffee stirrers in my mouth really helps me concentrate. Maybe it’s just a placebo effect, but who cares?

3. Take a break. Studies show that due to the “reminiscence effect,” people work and study more efficiently when they take a ten-minute break each hour.

4. Drink caffeine. Caffeine sometimes gets a bad rap, but it does make you more alert and energetic, and reduces distractability. (Plus, if you're drinking enough liquid, you have to take a break every hour -- to go to the bathroom.)

5. Clear off part of your desk. It doesn’t need to be perfectly tidy, but having a patch of bare surface helps focus your mind.

6. Exercise. Exercise wakes up the brain, plus I find that if I don’t exercise regularly, I can’t sit still at my desk.

7. Locate your office supplies. Having the tools that you need at hand — the stapler, the memo pad, the pen — means that you won’t lose your chain of thought while you’re rifling through your desk.

8. Get enough sleep. Enough said.

Comments

Hey Gretchen,

Currently I’m writing my master thesis at a company getting up at 7am every morning. First of all it is astonishing how fast time goes by and second I find it really hard to concentrate on my work for a long time without giving into distractions. Music helps to generate some energy and of course coffee seems to do the trick as well. With a free coffee machine at work it is extremely tempting to keep those cups coming, however the coffee just seems to work for a relative short duration. Actually, I seem to feel more tired in de afternoon drinking coffee in the morning. I tried to drink more water and much less coffee and (depending on the day) it is really working out. My energy level seems to be more consistent during the whole day which increases my afternoon productivity.
The following article suggests the same: http://www.sustainable.ie/cultivate/magazine/tired_of_being_tired.htm

Greetz, Mike

I'm at my desk by 6AM. Thanks to David Allen's "Getting Things Done," my desk is totally empty. I focus by opening up my computer and first doing my "to do" list. Then I check e-mail. Then I close e-mail and only check it about every two hours. Thanks to Peter Drucker's "The Effective Executive" and Manager-Tools.com, I know what my weekly priorities are. I spend at least one hour per day on my number one priority. I do that early in the morning, unless the actions items involve interacting with others who may not be at work yet. At the end of the day, I try to go back and evaluate my success. Although sometimes I'm too tired or behind to do it. I'm working on that, though.

Great blog. I enjoy reading it.
PS: I like Strides Gum. It is VERY flavorful, probably too much for some people. Target carries it. I usually chew it after I burn out on coffee.

Zoikes, up and at your desk at 7:00 am and 6:00 am! Just the thought of such productivity at that hour makes me reach for a cup of coffee...but I agree, when I can get myself to my desk by that hour, I can be enormously productive. There's something about the sun rising and the quiet that is very conducive to concentration.

I really like your blog too, and I'm interested by these tips. I used to get into work at 5:30 am, and now I get in at 7 am, it's really hard to get going so early in the morning! I'll try some of your tips!

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My earth-shattering happiness formula.

  • To be happier, you need to think about FEELING GOOD, FEELING BAD, and FEELING RIGHT, in an atmosphere of growth. Clunky, but it works.

My second ground-breaking insight into happiness.

  • One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

LifeRemix

  • LifeRemix

What started me thinking.

  • "Whoever is happy will make others happy, too." Mark Twain.
  • “There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” Robert Louis Stevenson
  • "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42
  • “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.” Simone Weil
  • “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” Colette
  • “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” G. K. Chesterton
  • “A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.” Joseph Addison
  • “For the love of God and my Sisters (so charitable toward me) I take care to appear happy and especially to be so.” St. Therese
  • “Best is good. Better is best.” Lisa Grunwald
  • “All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.” Samuel Johnson
  • “I must do the work that I am best suited for…” Edward Weston daybook
  • “Order is Heaven’s first law.” Alexander Pope
  • “How slight and insignificant is the thing which casts down or restores a mind greedy for praise.” Horace

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