Monday, March 21, 2016

Book Review: "Better Than Before" by Gretchen Rubin


Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
There are so many self help books out there, it can make your head spin. All of have the same goal-to help you become happy and make your life a thousand times better. "Better Than Before" by Gretchen Rubin is no exception. 
This isn't Rubin's first exploration of the study of happiness/habits, as she's the author of "The Happiness Project" and the "Happiness Journal." "Better Than Before" is like her similar works, however, it goes into the study of habits. 
Rubin goes into the four tendencies-rebel, upholders, questioners and obligors. These "tendencies" were the motivation behind your habits. I am an upholder, which means I'm self-directed, have little trouble meeting deadlines and am reliable. 
This book gives you a lot to examine, about yourself and the habits that you have. Ever since I read this book, I've been more critical of my spending habits, and asking myself why I'm buying things. This is a thousand times better than me just buying them for the sake of "treating myself." (The book even had a whole chapter on that very subject)
 It made me reflect on what I can do/change in my life to make it better. For example, one thing that I changed was putting things, whether they were responsibilities or not, on my schedule and in my planner. That way, I knew to make time for them. 
This book was extremely insightful, and pretty fun to read. I've been struggling with maintaining my sanity while juggling school, three jobs and life in general. This book taught me the root of some of my habits, and shed some light on what I have to change. I highly recommend it, because Rubin brings an extreme amount of insight that I would have never gotten otherwise. Furthermore, if you're a college student whose struggling to create positive habits or just a person trying to get a few good habits under their belt, consider giving "Better Than Before" a read.

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