Better Than Before
Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
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Better Than Before
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Narrated by:
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Gretchen Rubin
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Written by:
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Gretchen Rubin
About this listen
The author of the blockbuster New York Times best sellers The Happiness Project and Happier at Home tackles the critical question: How do we change?
Gretchen Rubin's answer: through habits. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.
So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits?
Better Than Before answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow listeners to understand their habits - and to change them for good. Infused with Rubin's compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better Than Before explains the (sometimes counterintuitive) core principles of habit formation.
Along the way Rubin uses herself as guinea pig, tests her theories on family and friends, and answers listeners' most pressing questions - oddly, questions that other writers and researchers tend to ignore:
- Why do I find it tough to create a habit for something I love to do?
- Sometimes I can change a habit overnight, and sometimes I can't change a habit no matter how hard I try. Why?
- How quickly can I change a habit?
- What can I do to make sure I stick to a new habit?
- How can I help someone else change a habit?
- Why can I keep habits that benefit others but can't make habits that are just for me?
Whether listeners want to get more sleep, stop checking their devices, maintain a healthy weight, or finish an important project, habits make change possible. Listening to just a few chapters of Better Than Before will make listeners eager to start work on their own habits - even before they've finished the audiobook.
Bonus feature: includes a full episode from the author's podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin in which she discusses how to build happier habits into everyday life.
©2015 Gretchen Rubin (P)2015 Random House AudioYou may also enjoy...
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 102
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Building upon this critical work in Good Calories, Bad Calories and presenting fresh evidence for his claim, Taubes now revisits the urgent question of what's making us fat - and how we can change - in this exciting new book. Persuasive, straightforward, and practical, Why We Get Fat makes Taubes' crucial argument newly accessible to a wider audience.
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5 out of 5 stars
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title says it all
- By Dylan on 2020-12-05
Written by: Gary Taubes
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The Four Tendencies
- The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)
- Written by: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
During her multi-book investigation into understanding human nature, Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question “How do I respond to expectations?” we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Must Read for understanding humans
- By Jeremy on 2018-01-02
Written by: Gretchen Rubin
-
Outer Order, Inner Calm
- Declutter and Organize to Make More Room for Happiness
- Written by: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Gretchen Rubin has found that getting control of our stuff makes us feel more in control of our lives. By getting rid of things we don't use, don't need, or don't love, we free our minds (and our shelves) for what we truly value. With a sense of fun, and a clear idea of what's realistic for most people, Gretchen Rubin suggests dozens of manageable steps for creating a more serene, orderly environment - one that helps us to create the lives we want.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not much there
- By Andrea Kevan on 2019-03-15
Written by: Gretchen Rubin
-
The Happiness Project
- Written by: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 124
Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Pragmatic and Delightful
- By Six on 2020-01-26
Written by: Gretchen Rubin
-
Happier at Home
- Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
- Written by: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
One Sunday afternoon, as she unloaded the dishwasher, Gretchen Rubin felt hit by a wave of homesickness. Homesick - why? She was standing right in her own kitchen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. In a flash, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on home. And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed her, and energized her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much happiness was there already.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gretchen Rubin, true to form
- By jenna on 2019-01-25
Written by: Gretchen Rubin
-
Life in Five Senses
- How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and into the World
- Written by: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5
A Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
About 1/3rd too long
- By Uncle Bosco on 2024-03-28
Written by: Gretchen Rubin
-
Why We Get Fat
- And What to Do About It
- Written by: Gary Taubes
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 87
Building upon this critical work in Good Calories, Bad Calories and presenting fresh evidence for his claim, Taubes now revisits the urgent question of what's making us fat - and how we can change - in this exciting new book. Persuasive, straightforward, and practical, Why We Get Fat makes Taubes' crucial argument newly accessible to a wider audience.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
title says it all
- By Dylan on 2020-12-05
Written by: Gary Taubes
What the critics say
What listeners say about Better Than Before
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emma David
- 2020-08-01
Awesome book!
This book was recommended to me by a friend and I couldn’t be happier with it! Probably going to listen to it again!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2018-06-07
Awesome book!
so many useful tips on creating healthy habits and helping understand your own personality which helps you learn what might bnb work better to ensure you stick with those habits!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-03-16
incredible audiobook, filled with great insight.
learn about your tendancy, how to develop habits with your tendancy, and other characteristics about yourself that play into successful habit development too!!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jodi halsband
- 2019-02-05
a great listen
this was an easy listen. well narrated and interesting to hear and easily absorbed. well worth the purchase
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hikecraterlake
- 2020-05-25
Excellent Listen
Excellent listen if you're trying to form better habits. Well read, easy to follow and full of lots of sound advice.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- ChauirG
- 2021-03-19
Street Smarts, not science based
A narrative collection of thoughts and observations with no substantial scientific background, no scientific investigation. Coffee time chatter rather than a well researched university grand rounds lecture. Claims are not substantiated by references. Therefore only of limited quality. I am disappointed that this is a NYT bestseller. Would not recommend.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Beatty
- 2018-01-19
No new insights, but a good read.
I enjoyed the book that there was nothing earth-shattering in it. She added some good personal use cases and examples for her friends and family Also felt like an advert for a lot of other things that Gretchen does like her podcast and website.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Monana
- 2019-08-01
Iffy food/eating habit examples
As an Eating Disorders counsellor, I didn’t like the food examples as they support diet culture and could be problematic for those struggling with disordered eating or eating disorders (eating disorders tend to thrive with things like quit sugars or carbs). Overall though really liked the book and the other types of examples!
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