It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s true: imagination is often sparked more by constraint than by freedom. 

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Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

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We revisit a special audio episode from the “Habits for Happiness” course about adapting your habits for summer. With Halfway Day approaching on 7/2, it's a useful reminder that a small adjustment can help you get more out of the season and the second half of the year.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Check out the new Design Your Summer tool in the Happier app

Get in touch: [email protected].

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. 

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We discuss how perfectionism is driven not by high standards but by anxiety—and how embracing imperfection is a great way to overcome it. We also share an important reminder about hearing health and why it matters so much for our happiness and wellbeing.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Cass Aarssen—Clutterbug
• Life in Five Senses (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Check out the Don't Break the Chain Habit Tracker in The Happiness Project Shop
• Elizabeth: Rewilding by Jane Green (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen: The Diary of Virginia Wolfe volume 1 (Amazon, Bookshop) 
  

Get in touch: [email protected]

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Studies from commuter patterns after the 2014 London Underground Strike illustrate an important point: even when we resist change, it holds the possibility of making our lives better.

Get in touch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠

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. 

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We explore familiar objects that have achieved perfection—from blue jeans to the perfume bottle—and which ones resonate with us most. We also explore whether people are socializing more since Covid, or if it's just to Elizabeth.

Resources & Links Related to this episode:

• Check out my free newsletter, “5 Things Making Me Happy”
• Secrets of Adulthood by Gretchen Rubin (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Everybody's Autobiography by Gertrude Stein (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Get in touch: [email protected].

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're excited to join Libro.fm's Audiobook Walk on June 13, a celebration of getting outside, moving your body, and listening to great books. Learn more: blog.libro.fm/audiobookmonth.

To celebrate, we're sharing the first 26 minutes of Louise Erdrich's "The Mighty Red," a darkly funny novel about love and survival on the American prairie. If you enjoy it, get the full audiobook from Libro.fm—a perfect companion for the “Move 26 in '26” Challenge.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Join the Move 26 in '26 challenge here 

Get in touch: [email protected].

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

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We tackle a big happiness stumbling block: worry. We share 20 practical strategies for managing worry—from scheduling time to worry, to recognizing when a worry isn't “ripe,” to making a list, and more.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Kevin Henkes’s Wemberly Worried (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Get in touch: [email protected]

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A crisis involving the design of the 59-story Citicorp Center illustrates lessons in creativity and the value of constant reevaluation.

Get in touch: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We revisit dozens of excellent hacks from listeners about how to make traveling more convenient and less stressful—plus we include some of our own travel-hack discoveries.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• You can start Designing Your Summer on the Tools page of the Happier app, or download the app here
  

Get in touch: [email protected]

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss why reflecting on a milestone moment—even a difficult one—can be a meaningful happiness practice. We also add a new suggestion to our "treat yourself like" series, and explore a know-yourself-better question about the patterns we fall into before a big trip or challenge.

Resources & links related to this episode:

Not sure what to purchase this Father’s Day? Take the Gift-Giving Quiz Elizabeth: Brittney Spears, The Woman in Me (Amazon, Bookshop)  Gretchen: Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard (Amazon, Bookshop)
Get in touch: [email protected]

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My daughter’s tattoo taught me an important lesson in parenthood: nothing can become between me and my daughters and cast a shadow.

Get in touch: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

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. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices