I’ve reread Gretchin Rubin’s Happiness Project multiple times (I am a huge fan). I’ve also read her recent work, Happiness at Home. But somehow, I feel that I need something more cohesive.
As I was charting out the “work smart” system that allots for work life balance, I recognize that some of the techniques that Ms. Rubin described in Happiness Project (Benjamin Franklin’s resolutions chart, identifying some of things you’re grateful of, etc) are features of a larger cohesive system. The grander scheme of the two Happiness books speaks to self awareness (determining what makes you feel great, what is right, and what makes you feel crummy and doing more of the former two and reducing/addressing the latter) and conscious growth. Ms. Rubin’s observations and insights resonate with us because she draws them from everyday life and interactions with family and friends. I commend Ms. Rubin for her extensive research of different fields (popular psychology, literature). Her distillation of some of the archetypes (maximizer versus satifier) are eye opening; these archetypes have helped me understand the world a little bit better. However, I feel that I need better tools than the resolutions chart and lists (list of splendid truths, secrets of adulthood, things to be grateful for, what makes you good, feel bad, and feel right). My Happiness Project therefore involves figuring a work/live smarter system.
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