Happier With Gretchen Rubin: This Is Actually Good For Me

It’s about trying to have that different perspective so you can see it a new light.
— Gretchen Rubin

Uplifting, motivational and easy-going, this podcast only lasts half an hour and so is perfect for a morning commute or over breakfast when you want to gear yourself up for the day ahead. Hosted by Gretchen Rubin, a writer who studies happiness, good habits and human nature in New York city, who is joined by her sister Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer living in LA, this podcast has a chatty feel to it, covering real-life issues. In this episode, they discuss why it can be helpful to say "this is actually good for me" when looking at different situations, as well as uncovering a great strategy for quitting those addictive apps.

Their concept is not about holding an unrealistically rosy view of the world, where everything has to be good. Rather, it's about shifting your perspective and looking at something in new ways with a more positive spin. As they discuss, we can all suffer from the negativity bias. Isn't it tempting to automatically look for why something is negative? Finding the positive in a tricky situation, or a revelation of new information, can often take more time and analysis. However, as they suggest, by stepping back and seeing how "this is actually good for me", you can move on far more readily in a positive way.

Leading on from this, Gretchen and Elizabeth also discuss the strategy of the clean state. They talk about the endowment effect and how it can be far harder to get rid of things that we own and already have in our possession when we have to acknowledge the act of throwing something away. Looking to technology, they assess ways in which it's far more difficult to delete an app that you've bought if it's sitting there on your screen, than to simply not re-download it when you're setting up a new phone. They raise an important idea of how to use technology as your tool, but not allowing it be your master, all of which makes for a thought-provoking listen. Enjoy!


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