The Happiness Project: Catching Up With Gretchen Rubin

I’m so excited (and happy) to feature my interview with Gretchen Rubin, author of new memoir The Happiness Project, scheduled to hit shelves later this year.

While Rubin started her career as a lawyer, she also realized that writing was her true passion. Since then, she’s published four books, has chatted with Matt Lauer on The Today Show and has been profiled in the New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town.”

Her blog is one of the best on the Web – for me, it’s easy to see why.

And now we’ll move on to happiness.

Laura Cococcia: Why happiness? Of course, it’s something we all strive for, but what drove you to focus your writing and research on this particular topic?

Gretchen Rubin: One afternoon a few years ago, as I was riding on a city bus, I asked myself, “What do I want from life, anyway?” and I thought, “I want to be happy.” I realized that I never asked myself if I were happy, or what I thought happiness was, or how I could be happier. In a flash, I decided to do a “happiness project” to study the question and to figure out what changes to make in my life. Happiness is an inexhaustibly fascinating topic, and led me in directions of science, philosophy, religion, memoirs, novels…I never tire about thinking about it.

Laura Cococcia: Your new book, The Happiness Project, is set to hit shelves soon. What was the most exciting part of doing your research? The most challenging?

Gretchen Rubin: The most exciting thing was to see that many of the principles that you read about actually do work! For example, I read the scientific studies that showed that novelty and challenge bring happiness. To test that, I decided to start a blog as a novel challenge in my life. And boy, has it brought me happiness. It makes me frustrated and irritated, too, at times, but venturing out of my comfort zone to learn to do something new has given me a huge happiness boost.

The most challenging thing is to accept that I’ll be struggling to keep many of my resolutions for the rest of my life. I can get in the habit of making my bed every morning, and not have to put much thought into it, but controlling my quick temper and relinquishing my desire for praise are resolutions that may not ever get much easier.

Laura Cococcia: Is there a secret to happiness? You’re the expert. We must know!

Gretchen Rubin: Pay attention to your body. Keeping relationships strong is a top priority. Find work worth doing. Make sure there’s someplace in your life where you are growing, learning, and making things better. Make time for fun.

Most important to remember: One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

Laura Cococcia: What wisdom can you share with other aspiring or even established writers looking to publish their own opinions, based on your own experiences?

Gretchen Rubin: As I said, I’ve had a fantastic experience with my blog. It has brought me into contact with so many people who share my interests and been an unending source of ideas. If you’re thinking of starting a blog, I really think it’s worthwhile.

My advice: use WordPress; plan to post 6 or 7 times a week; don’t worry about getting it perfect, just get it going, and add bells and whistles as you go; for advice, read ProBlogger.

Many thanks to Gretchen for sharing her experiences and making us all a little happier in the process.

Find out more about The Happiness Project and Gretchen Rubin: http://www.happiness-project.com/ and http://www.gretchenrubin.com/

Tagged as: Book Reviews, Interviews, Laura Cococcia, Motivation