The Happiness Project: Happiness is...blogging for Slate.

I'm working on a book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT--a memoir about the year I spent test-driving every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I could find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT will gather these rules for living and report on what works and what doesn’t. On this daily blog, I recount some of my adventures and insights as I grapple with the challenge of being happier. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT will hit the shelves in late 2009 (HarperCollins).

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My Twelve Commandments

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.

The best reading is re-reading.
Outer order contributes to inner calm.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
You manage what you measure.
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're fake, 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.

Happiness theories I reject.

Flaubert: "To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless."
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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« Happiness quotation from Christopher Alexander. | Main | Happiness interview with Ben Casnocha. »

Happiness is...blogging for Slate.

Slate_2 I’m extremely HAPPY because, as of January 12, the Happiness Project will be a blog on the fabulous online magazine Slate. Zoikes! I’ve been a huge fan of Slate for a very long time, so I was thrilled to be asked to join the fantastic writers there.

My posts will appear first on Slate, then after an eight-hour delay, will appear on this blog as usual. If you get my posts through Feedblitz or RSS, you’ll get them just as you do now.

*
Check out Slate! So much good material there.

*
If you haven't seen my one-minute movie, The Years Are Short, you might enjoy it.

December 15, 2008 | Permalink

Technorati Tags: biography, daily life, gifts, happiness, Slate, Winston Churchill

Comments

This is HUGE Gretchen! Slate will drive a ton of traffic. Congrats!

Posted by: Ben Casnocha | December 15, 2008 at 03:58 PM

Congrats! I had a little Slate gig myself, back in the day...

Posted by: Jul | December 15, 2008 at 04:23 PM

congratulations,
Slate has smart mgt to put you on the team.
Good move for them.
Larry

Posted by: LarryG | December 15, 2008 at 04:58 PM

congrats! great news. just saw the one-minute video. it's gorgeous and very moving. thank you for sharing it, and for putting it together. --jenn

Posted by: jennyl | December 15, 2008 at 06:37 PM

Very cool! Congratulations!

Posted by: Bridget | December 15, 2008 at 07:14 PM

Congratulations, Gretchen!

Posted by: Helen | December 15, 2008 at 07:34 PM

That's great news! Congratulations!

Posted by: adora | December 15, 2008 at 07:42 PM

That is awesome! Way to go!

Posted by: DSlinkard | December 15, 2008 at 07:44 PM

Thanks so much for your good wishes. I really am thrilled.

Posted by: Gretchen Rubin | December 16, 2008 at 06:41 AM

Congratulations! I'm very happy for you!

Posted by: Vi | December 16, 2008 at 09:39 AM

Wonderful Gretchen!

Posted by: LifeMadeGreat | Juliet | December 16, 2008 at 10:04 AM

That's truly wonderful news, Gretchen. I'm thrilled for you!

Posted by: Sonia | December 16, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Wow!! Congratulations, that's fantastic. Slate does some of my favorite writing. Your blog definitely deserves to be up there.

Posted by: Gabe | December 16, 2008 at 10:54 AM

What a coup! Congrats!

Posted by: phquaryn | December 16, 2008 at 10:57 AM

Congrats! What are they paying you to do this? I'm curious what the syndication value of a blog is.

Posted by: FupDuckTV | December 16, 2008 at 02:06 PM

Two of my daily go-tos will now combine! Wahoo!

Posted by: EAC | December 16, 2008 at 02:09 PM

That's fantastic, Gretchen! The more people you are able to reach, the better off this world will be. I finally watched your video, "The Years Are Short", it was so beautiful and moving. I love you!

Posted by: KH | December 18, 2008 at 02:04 PM

Hey Gretchen,

Congratulations! Can't wait to see your stuff on Slate. I've been a reader for quite some time of HP and have been following Slate off and on for years... Now that you're going to be writing there, I have another reason to keep up!

Slate is going to be an awesome platform for your message, and I wish you the best!

Posted by: Greg | December 18, 2008 at 03:50 PM

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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.

9Rules

Best of The Happiness Project

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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

My books

Gretchen Craft Rubin: Profane Waste: Essay by Gretchen Rubin And Photographs by Dana Hoey
A collaboration with artist Dana Hoey that examines the question: why do people destroy their own possessions?
Gretchen Rubin: Forty Ways to Look at JFK
A biography that grapples with the enduring puzzle: what made Kennedy such a dazzling, unforgettable figure?
Gretchen Rubin: Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill : A Brief Account of a Long Life
A concise biography of Winston Churchill.
Gretchen Craft Rubin: Power Money Fame Sex : A User's Guide
Social criticism in the form of a user's guide.

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