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. 

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Obituary for John Charles Craft
• Take the "Four Tendencies" personality quiz
• Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill
• In Our Time podcast by the BBC
• Elizabeth is reading: Full House by Janet Evanovich (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: Possession by A. S. Byatt (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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• I read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• I read "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen (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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Resources & links related to this episode:

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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the holiday crunch in full swing, here are three practical hacks that can make this week easier to manage.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Listen to Happier episode 96

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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Happier in Hollywood Substack 
• Simon Haisell's Footnotes and Tangents
• Allie Coyle Photography
• The Earth Room created by American artist Walter De Maria
• Click here to find everything related to the Design Your Year challenge

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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Resources & links related to this episode:

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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• I read "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• I read "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen (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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.” 

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Crying in H Mart

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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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) 
• Gretchen is reading: Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift (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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: [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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: [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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.