With its bright blue cover, Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project caught my eye as I was looking for something to read on the flight back to Oregon after a summer business trip to North Carolina. Maybe there are a couple of practical insights I could benefit from I thought.
Rubin said she realized that “Time is passing and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” So she decided to undertake a year-long adventure exploring what makes us happy. Her very readable prose alternates between sharing the wisdom of the ages she has gleaned from her voracious reading, current scientific research and her daily experience of implementing ideas with her husband and two daughters.
She distills helpful concepts down into Twelve Commandments and Secrets of Adulthood. Examples of the latter include, “Most decisions don’t require extensive research. By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished. What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
I certainly came away with more than a few good ideas to implement.