Week 10: Snickerdoodle cookies & "Better than Before"

WHY THIS BOOK?

Remember the book the Happiness project well yes that's Gretchen Rubin. Did you know we repeat about 40% of our behaviour almost daily, so our habits are really important.

If you have read Atomic Habits by James Clear it is similar except Gretchen Rubin bases her book on the four tendencies: Upholder, Questioner, Rebel or an Obliger.

There is a quiz at the back of the book to see who you think you are. It reminds me a bit of a personality assessment.

I am an upholder which means I respond readily to both outer and inner expectations. For example, I wake up and think about what is on my to-do list today and I tend to like to follow rules.

Now once you know your tendency she discusses different strategies to get your habits to stick. The one strategy I really liked was the strategy of pairing. The strategy of pairing is when you couple two activities together. One that you need or want to do and one that you don't particularly want to do. Here is an example, when you walk from room to room you carry something with you. If I am walking from the bedroom to the kitchen I will bring the empty mug or book that needs to go back into the office. I really like this idea and its like you are cleaning up but not :-)

So for me I leave my clothes in one big pile on a beautiful chest that my dad made for our wedding. I am going to commit every time I go into the bedroom to put one piece of clothing away. Now I think either I will reduce the amount of time I go into my room or else I may actually reduce the clothes pile. This book provided little tips along the way on how to make your habits easier and to make them stick based on your tendency. I will let you know in a few months how this habit is going.

How many of you have read it?