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We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get the habit started, then - and this is the best part - we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. At that point, were free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower.

Gretchen Rubin

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Gretchen Rubin
Age: 58
Born: 1965
Born: December 14
Author
Blogger
Motivational Speaker
Kansas City
Missouri
Gretchen Craft Rubin
Best
Decision
Willpower
Need
Point
Habits
Take
Free
Decide
Needs
Making
Extraordinary
Use
Allow
Form
Habit
Part
Choose
Power
Started

More quotes by Gretchen Rubin

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Look for happiness under your own roof.
Gretchen Rubin
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People in religions that teach that believers in other faiths are condemned, for example, tend to have lower life satisfaction. People who believe in heaven and hell tend to be less happy than those believe only in heaven.
Gretchen Rubin
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Nothing,' wrote Tolstoy, 'can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.
Gretchen Rubin
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Creativity arises from a constant churn of ideas, and one of the easiest ways to encourage that fertile froth is to keep your mind engaged with your project. When you work regularly, inspiration strikes regularly.
Gretchen Rubin
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What's fun for other people may not be fun for you- and vice versa.
Gretchen Rubin
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We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.
Gretchen Rubin
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Your unhappiness doesn't help anyone else - and in fact, as I mentioned in another answer, happy people are more altruistically inclined. So happiness is not a selfish goal.
Gretchen Rubin
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In 'Before and After,' I identify the sixteen strategies that we can use to make or break our habits. Some are quite familiar, such as 'Monitoring,' 'Scheduling,' and 'Convenience.' Some took me a lot of effort to identify, such as 'Thinking,' 'Identity,' and 'Clarity.'
Gretchen Rubin
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I've found that I snack less and concentrate better when I chew on a plastic stirrer - the kind that you get to stir your to-go coffee. I picked up this habit from my husband, who loves to chew on things. His favorite chew-toy is a plastic pen top, and gnawed pen tops and little bits of plastic litter our apartment.
Gretchen Rubin
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The biggest waste of time is to do well something that we need not do at all.
Gretchen Rubin
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Happiness is a critical factor for work, and work is a critical factor for happiness. In one of those life-isn’t-fair results, it turns out that the happy out-perform the less happy.
Gretchen Rubin
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Studies show that aggressively expressing anger doesn't relieve anger but amplifies it. On the other hand, not expressing anger often allows it to disappear without leaving ugly traces.
Gretchen Rubin
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Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it's easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. There's an excitement and an energy that comes from a big transformation, and that helps to create a habit.
Gretchen Rubin
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It's the task that's never started that's more tiresome.
Gretchen Rubin
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Forbearance is a form of generosity.
Gretchen Rubin
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Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life they’re big, flashing signs that something needs to change.
Gretchen Rubin
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Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Gretchen Rubin
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A 'treat' is different from a 'reward', which must be justified or earned. A treat is a small pleasure or indulgence that we give to ourselves just because we want it. Treats give us greater vitality, which boosts self-control, which helps us maintain our healthy habits.
Gretchen Rubin
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[S]tudies show that one of the best ways to lift your mood is to engineer an easy success, such as tackling a long-delayed chore.
Gretchen Rubin
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The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted.
Gretchen Rubin