AudioBook Review Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives (Better Than Before #1) by Gretchen Rubin

New York Times BestsellerWashington Post Bestseller The author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, tackles the critical question: How do we change?    Gretchen Rubin's answer: through habits. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.   So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits?  Better than Before answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good. Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better than Before explains the (sometimes counter-intuitive) core principles of habit formation.   Along the way, Rubin uses herself as guinea pig, tests her theories on family and friends, and answers readers’ most pressing questions—oddly, questions that other writers and researchers tend to ignore: 

• Why do I find it tough to create a habit for something I love to do? • Sometimes I can change a habit overnight, and sometimes I can’t change a habit, no matter how hard I try. Why? • How quickly can I change a habit? • What can I do to make sure I stick to a new habit? • How can I help someone else change a habit? • Why can I keep habits that benefit others, but can’t make habits that are just for me?

Whether readers want to get more sleep, stop checking their devices, maintain a healthy weight, or finish an important project, habits make change possible. Reading just a few chapters of Better Than Before will make readers eager to start work on their own habits—even before they’ve finished the book.

I was looking for ways to cement my gym and healthy eating habits. I seem to be stuck in a perpetual stop motion start quit with regards to going to the gym and my eating habits. I remember I had read this before, but I had forgotten a lot of it, so it was good that I read this.

What I liked

I loved how she set up the framework in an easy to understand way. I realized that I am an obliger. I do shit if it is just me but if I know someone is counting on me, then I will move heaven and earth to keep my word. This explains why I have been unable to commit to an at-home workout routine. If I want to ensure that I work out, then I have to go to the gym. I am not sure what it is expected there is no place to sit down there if I don’t “feel” like doing my workout and also I always tell myself that I have already come to the gym may as well work out. Getting to the gym is a problem sometimes though. Lol

I thought that she take on habit formation was enlightghtening. I could do relate to her “loopholes.” I must admit I do a lot of them. I know I am not doing myself any favors by doing this, but I can’t seem to help it. Now that it is at the forefront of my mind and I know that it is just my brain trying to play tricks on me I can override it so that I can develop good habits.

What I did not like

Her constant pushing a low carb diet. Ughh. I am tempted to write her and tell her that Vegan is where it is at. I get what she is trying to say though but the fact that she was all low carb this low carb that blah blah got on my nerves after a while. She seems to think that there is only one way of eating and that is the low carb way. I wish that she had said that it was the way that worked for HER and for some other people a Vegan diet would be best. There is no one size fits all in regards to diet.

I feel that this shed some light on how habits are formed. It does not matter f you are trying to make a good habit stick, such s going to the gym, or if you are trying to stop smoking or overeating, we all need to know how our brains trips us up so we can be on the watch out for it.

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