We explore the powerful practice of distilling your hard-earned observations into concise "Secrets of Adulthood,” such as "Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination" and "The more I write, the more I write." We also talk about the simple pleasure of physical magazines, and we tackle a complex Four Tendencies question about supporting an Obliger mother-in-law whose helpfulness contributed to her health problems.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• A Little Happier: The Power of Telling the Truth--What Nebraska's and Oslo's Tourists Know
• Pre-order my new book, Secrets of Adulthood
• Take the Next Novel quiz
• Take the Four Tendencies quiz
• Elizabeth is reading: Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Gretchen is reading: Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times by Andrew Kaufman (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.

Three distinct childhood memories—from an art-carnival creator, a food writer, and a horror master—illuminate how the “luna parks” of our childhoods can live in our imaginations for our entire lives. 

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.

For our 10th anniversary, we’re revisiting our very first episode of Happier. We discuss how the “one-minute rule” contributes to outer order and inner calm, the difference between a satisficer and a maximizer, and the one-coin loophole. Plus, for the first time, we give ourselves Demerits and Gold Stars. 

Resources & Links Related to this episode:

• One Minute Rule
• Are you a satisficer or a maximizer?
• Better than Before

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.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the podcast, we highlight our favorite ideas, hacks, and moments from the last decade. Everything from the “one-minute rule” to “clear the decks” to “give yourself a derby name” to Elizabeth’s famous recommendation of the Ped Egg.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Pre-order my new book, Secrets of Adulthood
• Better Than Before, my book about habit change
• Follow the one-minute rule 
• Observe the family “update” 
• Identify your signature anything: color, scent, personal symbol. 
• Go to the doctor 
• Celebrate minor holidays 
• Start a side hustle 
• “Identify your Happiness 911 song” 
• Give yourself a “derby name”
• Create a five-senses portrait
• Organize trinkets
•  Outer Order, Inner Calm book
• Packing cubes
• Share a podcast episode
• Closet-clearing montage
• Cleaning Elizabeth's office 
•  Hacks for reading more
• Hacks for making entertaining easier and more fun
•  Hacks for performance
• Thank-you note debate
•  Happiness lessons from teachers in episodes 324 and 326
• Object sacrificing itself
• “Unplugged Episode”
• Clear the Decks 
• Sweep the Decks 
• Deck the Halls
• Voice memos from England
• Ped Egg
• “Have you ever been upset by a well-intentioned gift?”
• Happier in Hollywood podcast
• We made merchandise! Buy your merch!
• 10th Anniversary Celebration Sale 
• Find the resources 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. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The inscription on an ancient Greek grave marker illustrates the purpose of preserving art across millennia. A grandmother's words about holding her beloved grandchild, both in life and death, bridge more than two thousand years. 

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 review the great debate among listeners about whether our ungrammatical jokes about “More Happier” are fun—or annoying. We also discuss whether, as creative people, we expect our friends and family to read, watch, or listen to what we create. Plus we explore a silly question about whether we’d start to eat an item before we’d pay for it.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• 5 Things Making Me Happy Newsletter 
• The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky (Amazon, Bookshop)
• After Hours with Jamie Rubin podcast
• Eliza Starting at 16 podcast
• People My Age podcast

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.

For this Very Special Episode, we answer questions from listeners about our relationships, happiness, watercolor, celebrities, our reading habits, and more. 

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Bookshop
• Quiz: Fall In Love With Your Next Novel 
• Happier in Hollywood Substack
• Simon Haisell's slow read of War and Peace
• Five-Senses Journal
• Dabble Writer
• Elizabeth is reading: Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: The Many Lives of Anne Frank by Ruth Franklin (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.

Three distinct voices—Leonard Woolf, Gerald Heard, and Thomas Merton—point to the same truth world: The value of right action lies not in the results we achieve for others, but in the rightness of the action itself, and its significance for ourselves.

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 talk about the unexpected lessons Elizabeth learned during her family’s emergency evacuation from their home, from the practical (“know your zone”) to the emotional (dogs can provide comfort in displacement). We discuss how information networks proved crucial, the reality of evacuation traffic, and how different people react in crisis. We also explore how to maintain productivity during disruption and the importance of advance preparation, including the value of a well-planned "go bag" and a pre-made list of irreplaceable items.

Resources & Links Related to this episode:

• Habits for Happiness Quiz

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.

For this Very Special Episode, we answer questions from listeners about relationships, happiness, habits, reading, writing, and working together as sisters.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Super-Fan Sign-Up
• Elizabeth is reading: Colored Television by Danzy Senna (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively (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.