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Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Lower the bar. Actually spending ten minutes clearing off one shelf is better than fantasizing about spending a weekend cleaning out the basement.

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
Spending
Clearing
Minutes
Shelf
Enemy
Shelves
Actually
Cleaning
Perfect
Weekend
Better
Lower
Fantasizing
Good
Bars
Basement
Ten
Basements

More quotes by Gretchen Rubin

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Contemporary research shows that happy people are more altruistic, more productive, more helpful, more likable, more creative, more resilient, more interested in others, friendlier, and healthier. Happy people make better friends, colleagues, and citizens.
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Happiness is hard because it's very subjective. I know the people that seem happiest to me, but whether they are actually - what they're really like inside is really hard to say.
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Say “no” only when it really matters. Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange shorts? Sure. Put water in the toy tea set? Okay. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed? Fine. Samuel Johnson said, “All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.
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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.
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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.
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I used to be very disciplined about only buying three books ahead of what I was reading, but my husband corrupted me, and now I'm dozens ahead of myself!
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Enthusiasm is more important than innate ability, it turns out, because the single more important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice.
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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.
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When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.
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Sometimes I think it's easier to think about being happier, for what ever that means to you then worrying about what is happiness and what would life be if I finally achieved this ultimate happiness?
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I spend a lot of time saying to myself, Well, is that really what I like to do? Is that really something that makes me happy? and letting go of the things that don't make me happy.
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Focus not on doing less or doing more but on doing what you value.
Gretchen Rubin
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The number one resolution that people mention to me as something that's made them happier is - to my surprise - making the bed.
Gretchen Rubin
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... one flaw throws the loveliness of [everything else] into focus. I remember reading that Shakers deliberately introduced a mistake into the things they made, to show that man shouldn't aspire to the perfection of God. Flawed can be more perfect than perfection.
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If you want to feel safe, healthy, and hopeful, try to act as if you did feel that way. Fake it 'till you feel it. maybe start with health -- try to walk energetically, speak energetically, do physical things.
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What I found is, really, you always have to begin by nailing what is true about you, because something that works very well for someone else might not work for you at all.
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Happy people make people happy, but I can’t make someone be happy, and no one else can make me happy.
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I always say you can self-medicate through closet cleaning. Everyone knows that feeling of a clear surface, and how it makes you feel you can really focus and start your work.
Gretchen Rubin
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I am living my real life, this is it. Now is now, and if I waited to be happier, waited to have fun, waited to do the things that I know I ought to do, I might never get the chance.
Gretchen Rubin
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Turn off your email turn off your phone disconnect from the Internet figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master.
Gretchen Rubin