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" Keep in mind that to avoid loneliness, many people need both a social circle and an intimate attachment. Having just one of two may still leave you feeling lonely. "
Gretchen Rubin
People
You
Loneliness
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" No leader did more for his country than Winston Churchill. Brave, magnanimous, traditional, he was like a king-general from Britain's heroic past. His gigantic qualities set him apart from ordinary humanity; there seemed no danger he feared, no effort too great for his limitless energies. "
Gretchen Rubin
Effort
Brave
Him
" A series of small but real accomplishments gives people the energy and confidence to continue. For instance, a person who wants to write a novel might resolve to write one sentence each day. Or a person who wants to start running might resolve to run for one minute. "
Gretchen Rubin
People
Confidence
Day
" If you'd like to watch less television, try putting the remote away in a very inconvenient place and making yourself put it away every time you use it. If it's a big pain to turn on the TV and to change channels, you might find yourself drifting to other activities that will be more satisfying in the long run. "
Gretchen Rubin
Pain
Change
Long
" I'm much calmer when there's no TV or music playing in the background. "
Gretchen Rubin
Playing
Music
Much
" Embrace good smells. No cost, no calories, no energy, no time - a quick hit of pleasure. "
Gretchen Rubin
Time
Pleasure
Good
" I've found that I snack less and concentrate better when I chew on a plastic stirrer - the kind that you get to stir your to-go coffee. I picked up this habit from my husband, who loves to chew on things. His favorite chew-toy is a plastic pen top, and gnawed pen tops and little bits of plastic litter our apartment. "
Gretchen Rubin
Pen
You
Better
" Most people enjoy 'potato-chip news' from time to time - to track a presidential election or the Oscars. However, some are particularly drawn to material that makes them feel shocked, frightened, insecure, or indignant, and that's what potato-chip news often provides. "
Gretchen Rubin
Feel
Election
Enjoy
" When accepting a responsibility, imagine that it's something that you'll have to do next week. That way you don't agree to something just because it seems so far off that it doesn't seem onerous. "
Gretchen Rubin
Just Because
You
Week
" Each week, I post a video about some 'Pigeon of Discontent' raised by a reader. Because, as much as we try to find the 'Bluebird of Happiness,' we're also plagued by those small but pesky 'Pigeons of Discontent.' "
Gretchen Rubin
Find
Happiness
Try
" Like most people, I have several pet subjects - that may or may not be interesting to other people. Don't get me started on happiness, or habits, or children's literature, or Winston Churchill, unless you really want to talk about it. "
Gretchen Rubin
People
Children
Happiness
" I read a lot, all the time, but often I read books for research, or because they're interesting to me in some way, even if they aren't exactly 'pleasurable.' "
Gretchen Rubin
Research
Interesting
Me
" While television is a good servant, it's a bad master. It can swallow up huge quantities of our lives without much happiness bang for the buck. "
Gretchen Rubin
Bad
Happiness
Master
" I'd always vaguely expected to outgrow my limitations. One day, I'd stop twisting my hair, and wearing running shoes all the time, and eating exactly the same food every day. I'd remember my friends' birthdays, I'd learn Photoshop, I wouldn't let my daughter watch TV during breakfast. I'd read Shakespeare. "
Gretchen Rubin
Food
Time
Day
" When I became obsessed with Winston Churchill, I wrote a book about Churchill. What a joy it was to write that book! "
Gretchen Rubin
Book
Wrote
About
" 'Potato-chip news' is news that's repetitive, requires little effort to absorb, and is consumable in massive quantities: true crime, natural disasters, political punditry, celebrity gossip, sports gossip, or endless photographs of beautiful houses, food, or clothes. "
Gretchen Rubin
Effort
Food
Clothes
" We can use decision-making to choose the habits we want to form, use willpower to get the habit started, then - and this is the best part - we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. At that point, we're free from the need to decide and the need to use willpower. "
Gretchen Rubin
Habit
Need
Power
" For notes related to books I'm writing, I've wondered whether I should organize my notes better, but I do find that the action or scrolling through them and seeing odd juxtapositions of ideas helps to stimulate my own ideas and creativity. I worry that if I kept the notes in a highly-structured way, I might lose some of these benefits. "
Gretchen Rubin
Ideas
Lose
Writing
" You can love someone but not want to keep a gift from that person. It's okay to pass an item along to someone who will appreciate it more. "
Gretchen Rubin
Someone
You
Appreciate
" Often, if there's something that I want to do, but somehow can't get myself to do, it's because I don't have clarity. This lack of clarity often arises from a feeling of ambivalence - I want to do something, but I don't want to do it; or I want one thing, but I also want something else that conflicts with it. "
Gretchen Rubin
Want
Myself
Because
" Give warm greetings and farewells. I was surprised by how much this resolution changed the atmosphere of my home. "
Gretchen Rubin
Warm
Atmosphere
Home
" Don't let yourself fall into 'empty.' Keep cash in the house. Keep gas in your tank. Keep an extra roll of toilet paper squirreled away. Keep your phone charged. "
Gretchen Rubin
Yourself
Phone
Fall
" One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take photos of happy occasions, they weight our memories to the good. "
Gretchen Rubin
Past
Memories
Happy
" Being taken for granted is an unpleasant but sincere form of praise. Ironically, the more reliable you are, and the less you complain, the more likely you are to be taken for granted. "
Gretchen Rubin
More
Praise
Reliable
" Growing up in Kansas City, I was always neat, the teacher's pet, know-it-all type. "
Gretchen Rubin
Teacher
Growing
Pet
" I get such a buzz out of cleaning closets. "
Gretchen Rubin
Cleaning
Buzz
Out
" It was my interest in happiness that led me to the subject of habits, and of course, the study of habits is really the study of happiness. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, and a significant element of happiness. "
Gretchen Rubin
Study
Life
Architecture
" I do better with routines and predictability. I don't react well when there's a sudden change in the schedule. "
Gretchen Rubin
Schedule
Change
React
" Children's literature is one of my joys, and it's also my mental comfort food. "
Gretchen Rubin
Food
Literature
Children
" Superstition is the irrational belief that an object or behavior has the power to influence an outcome, when there's no logical connection between them. Most of us aren't superstitious - but most of us are a 'littlestitious.' "
Gretchen Rubin
Behavior
Connection
Influence
" If you want someone else to do a task, don't do it yourself. "
Gretchen Rubin
Task
Someone
Else