Why You Should Consider Giving Up a Temptation Altogether, and How I Manage to Get Back to the Gym

It’s time for the next installment of  “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.”

Update: Loyal sister that she is, Elizabeth gave a plug for the paperback of Better Than Before. Plus Elizabeth and I are doing our first live recording of the podcast. If you’re in the Bay Area, January 21, Brava Theater, we hope to see you there. Info and tickets here.  We’ll have two excellent guests, and some special little treats, plus you get a copy of Better Than Before with your ticket.

Try This at Home: Act the way you want to feel. Want to know all my Twelve Personal Commandments? Look here.

Better Than Before Habit Strategy: We’re working our way through the twenty-one strategies for habit change that I discuss in Better Than Before. In this episode, we talk about the Strategy of Abstaining (which we’ve talk about before, for instance, back in episode 2, but we keep hearing from listeners about it).

Listener Question: “What’s the line between freeing yourself from an obligation that’s become counter-productive versus quitting something prematurely, that you ought to stick with?”

Elizabeth’s Demerit:  Elizabeth hasn’t had her hair cut and colored for months.

Gretchen’s Gold Star: In episode 41, I gave myself a demerit for not going to the gym. This time, I get a gold star for switching gyms; I used the Strategy of Convenience to join a gym closer to my apartment, and I have in fact started to go to the gym again.

As always, thanks to our terrific sponsors

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Want to know what to expect from other episodes of the podcast, when you listen to“Happier with Gretchen Rubin?” We talk about how to build happier habits into everyday life, as we draw from cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom, lessons from pop culture—and our own experiences (and mistakes).  We’re sisters, so we don’t let each other get away with much!

HAPPIER listening!

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Gretchen Rubin is the author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. She writes about happiness and habit-formation at gretchenrubin.com. Follow her here by clicking the yellow FOLLOW button, on Twitter, @gretchenrubin, on Facebook, facebook.com/GretchenRubin. Or listen to her popular podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

Photo: Gretchen Rubin