Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin is HAPPIER, and she wants you to be happier too. The #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before gets more personal than ever as she brings her practical, manageable advice about happiness and good habits to this lively, thought-provoking podcast. Gretchen’s cohost and guinea pig is her younger sister, Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer living in Los Angeles, who (lovingly) refers to Gretchen as her happiness bully. Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/
Episodes
We talk about a thought-provoking, helpful exercise to help prepare for the upcoming year. We also share an easy hack for making parties more fun, reflections on #Read25in25, and re-visit a whimsical know-yourself-better question.
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- Home cotton-candy machine
- Listen to episode 355
- Simon Haisell's Footnotes and Tangents on Substack
- Last chance to sign up for The Happiness Project Revi...
With his characteristic skill, and with a powerful metaphor, Warren Buffett makes the point that even talented people won’t succeed if they’re working in very unfavorable conditions.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and...
We talk about a whimsical way to take better photographs, a useful question for making a hard decision, and the joy of field trips.
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- Join the "Happiness Project Revisited" before prices rise on January 1st
- Bandolier
- Order your 2026 Moment of Happiness Calendar
Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretch...
We talk about why the realization “I could this this task better myself” can help us identify possible opportunities. We also talk about how to give a bad review in a nice way, and share imaginative accountability strategies.
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As a gift to listeners, I read O. Henry’s classic "The Gift of the Magi"—a timeless reminder of what really matters most for our happiness during the holidays.
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When we’re quoting someone who has articulated an important idea, it’s important to make sure that we’re quoting their entire point. Winston Churchill, Stewart Brand, and apocryphally, Harry Gordon Selfridge, are frequently only partially quoted.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's b...
With the holiday crunch in full swing, here are three practical hacks that can make this week easier to manage.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.
Find the transcript for thi...
As part of “Design Your Year,” each of us made a list of 25 things we wanted to accomplish in 2025; here, we report on what we got done—and what we didn’t.
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A familiar story about Gandhi is apocryphal, but nevertheless illustrates one of my Secrets of Adulthood: If we’re trying to encourage or enforce a particular behavior, we should be willing to observe that behavior ourselves.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products ...
My friend Chip Conley joins the “Dan Buettner Podcast” to explain why the old idea of a “midlife crisis” holds us back and how reframing this stage can open the door to purpose, curiosity, and stronger connection in life after 50.
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As part of our Happier Podcast Book Club, we revisit our conversation with Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast about her compelling bestselling memoir “Crying in H Mart.”
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Col...
We report on our experience with the “Design Your Year” exercise of the annual challenge: Read 25 in ’25. We also reveal the annual challenge for 2026—join us.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Move 26 in 2026
- Visit the Happiness Project shop
- The science-backed trick that soothes an itch better than scratching
- Elizabeth: is coming into the end of War and Peace (Amazon, Bookshop)...
Do You Feel Like an Employee of Your Former Self? Renowned novelist Ian McEwan makes a funny observation about book tours that’s applicable to many familiar situations.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happi...
Make entertaining easier. These simple hacks take the stress out of hosting and help you focus on what really matters: enjoying the people you’re with.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.
Find the ...
We talk about why choosing a one-word theme for the year can be such a creative, constructive, and satisfying exercise. We review our words for 2025 and reveal our words for 2026. Plus we share an original and fun reason to have a party.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Amazing scene in Mad Men
- Work through my new Gift Idea Generator worksheet
- Elizabeth is reading: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Amazon, Books...
The gap between expectations and reality determines whether we feel happy or disappointed. From empty-nest parents hoping for daily texts to tourists experiencing "Paris syndrome," our expectations shape our emotions. Sometimes adjusting expectations—rather than changing reality—is the key to happiness.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gret...
We revisit our long list of hacks to make the holidays a happier time.
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Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.
Find the tran...
We discuss a know-yourself-better question related to how we conceive of ourselves at different ages. Plus we talk about a way to find excellent book recommendations.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Join the The Happiness Project: Revisited course
- Since You Asked advice podcast
- Shop the biggest journal sale of the year!
- Substack Live with Sari Botton
- "Oldster Magazine" on Substack
- Less Than Zero by Bret E...
We talk about why it’s such a happiness-booster to raise your hand to organize an event or undertaking—to realize that if you don’t do it, no one will. We also share a hack for making it easier to take medication, and why it’s a good idea to “suffer fools gladly.”
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The awe-inspiring true story of “Mountain Man” Dashrath Manjhi is an example of how we can transform pain into action that can help others. After his wife died for lack of medical care, Dashrath Manjhi spent more than twenty years single-handedly carving out a path to make his remote village more accessible.
Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-se...
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