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 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.
Resources & links related to this episode:
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.
Resources & links related to this episode:
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.
Resources & links related to this episode:
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 this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.&nbs...
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...
I joined Kim and Penn Holderness on their podcast "Laugh Lines" for a funny, thoughtful talk about parenting after the kids move out—a great listen as families come back together for the holidays.
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 transcr...
It’s easy to get swept up in a cycle of holidays that feels more like a relentless to-do list than a source of joy. In this Celebration Roundtable, we talk about how to embrace the holidays as opportunities for intentional connection and meaning.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Francis Lam
- Priya Parker
- Kate Bowler
- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
- Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
- Stone Sou...
It can be a real challenge to find new, useful ideas for gifts. We suggest many of our own recommendations, plus we include dozens of ideas from listeners.
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As a writer, I'm particularly drawn to great endings, and I read the extraordinary closing paragraphs of Lytton Strachey’s biography Queen Victoria. Strachey imagines Victoria's fading mind retracing the vanished visions of her long history—passing back through decades of memories in a poignant, poetic cascade that captures both the end of a life and the end of an era.
Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit&...
We talk about the challenge of choosing a one-word theme for the upcoming year, as well as the surprising value of gossip. Plus we talk about a fun reason to have a party.
Resources & links related to this episode:
Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, produ...
We talk to Lori Gottlieb—psychotherapist, bestselling author, and co-host of the “Since You Asked” advice podcast—about what she wishes she could tell her patients. We discuss questions like why patients lie to their therapists, how to know if you’re the toxic friend, how to handle a challenging holiday gathering, and how to end rumination.
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Sometimes a teaching story has such a great lesson that it doesn’t even matter if it’s not true. While the famous story of the sardines and the catfish turns out to be apocryphal, it illustrates a useful truth: Being in an environment where we need to show hustle can be better for us than quiet, stagnant surroundings.
Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com
Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen...
A twist on our “Clear the Decks” strategy—this episode guides you through a series of quick, one-minute tasks to help you get organized for the holidays.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Sign up to be an organ donor!
- We mention the Five-Senses Journal, which includes spaces to do five-senses portraits.
- To make it easier to identify good gifts to give, take the Gift-Giving Qui...
We talk about the value of having a party (a party that’s not family- or child-centric). We share an easy hack for assembling furniture. Plus listeners give their examples of how they feel the pressure to “use up”—the beautiful offerings of the world.
Resources & links related to this episode:
- Here's a guide to help you generate thoughtful gift ideas
- Elizabeth is reading: Th...
Despite its bad reputation, gossip is actually a ubiquitous and important feature of human communication.
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 this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app.
See omnystudio.com/listener...
We talk about why immersive experiences are so energizing and interesting. We also explore how we can know ourselves better by considering what the algorithm reflects back to us about our interests, and we talk about the satisfaction of clearing clutter.
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