Can You Change Your Habits? An interview with Gretchen Rubin

Can you change your habits? Let's find out!

This week, I talked with Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author of Happier and Better than Before, and co-host of the wildly popular Happier podcast. Gretchen's new book Outer Order/Inner Calm talks about how to declutter and organize your life to make more room for happiness.

Our discussion focuses mostly on the work Gretchen has done on habit change. Gretchen outlines four basic tendencies or personality types that determine how we respond to inner and outer expectations. Understanding your tendency can help you identify the most effective strategies and tactics for creating sustainable, healthy change. 

You can find out your tendency by taking the free quiz at quiz.gretchenrubin.com.

Listen to the entire interview to learn: 

• Is there one personality type that is inherently more successful at changing habits? 
• Can you change your tendency, or might it change all by itself over time? 
• Does your tendency depend on the context (for example, are you an Upholder at work but a Questioner at home?)
• Why abstaining completely often takes less willpower than exercising moderation
• The value of planned exceptions

Gretchen also gives us a sneak peak into the likely subject of her next book.

You can find more about Gretchen's books, podcast, and speaking tour on her website, gretchenrubin.com.

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