Book SummaryBetter Than Before, by Gretchen Rubin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Better Than Before

Have you tried and failed to follow the advice of self-help “gurus” about the habits you should adopt to become happier, richer, and more successful? In Better Than Before (2015), Gretchen Rubin claims there’s a reason why the habits that work for self-improvement experts are unlikely to work for you: because the key to developing good habits and quitting bad ones is understanding yourself, not mimicking others.

Rubin is the author of several New York Times best-selling books, including The Happiness Project and *[The Four...

Better Than Before Summary Part 1: Understanding Yourself Helps You Develop Good Habits

According to Rubin, the goal of good habits isn’t to turn you into a perfectly optimized human—it’s to help you become a better version of yourself. She says good habits help you grow, which can make you happier. While you need willpower to establish good habits, you don’t need willpower to maintain them. Well-established habits free your brain from constantly having to decide whether to perform a task, so it can focus on more important things. Because people fall back on their habits when stressed, good habits can be especially helpful and reassuring when you’re going through challenging times.

(Shortform note: Research backs up Rubin’s claim that habits make you happier, more efficient, and less stressed (not to mention better at achieving your goals, developing new skills, maintaining your health, and managing your time). Like Rubin, many authors agree that another major benefit of habits is the way they make life easier by automating behavior. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t hard to develop. Nir Eyal (Indistractable) emphasizes that before a...

Better Than Before Summary Part 2: Basics of Habit Formation

Rubin cites three basic principles of habit formation that you can apply regardless of who you are or what change strategies you use. Rubin’s principles can make it easier to develop good habits or quit bad ones: prioritizing habits that strengthen your willpower, repeating habits at the same time of day, and being accountable to someone (or something) else.

Prioritizing Key Habits Makes It Easier to Develop Others

Rather than starting with small, easy changes, Rubin contends that you should begin by changing the habits that sap your willpower and energy. She says the four key areas to focus on first are habits that foster good sleep, regular physical activity (not necessarily hardcore exercise), healthy eating and drinking, and decluttering. Prioritizing these habits will make it easier to develop other good habits. For example, consistently getting enough sleep gives you the strength of mind and body to stay on top of habits like avoiding junk food.

While Rubin believes that focusing on these four areas facilitates the development of other good habits, she recognizes that everyone is different. For example, some people need to declutter before they can get...

Better Than Before Summary Part 3: Strategies for Developing Good Habits and Breaking Bad Ones

Rubin presents over a dozen strategies for changing your habits, allowing you to choose those that work best for you. These habit strategies fall into three categories: strategies that depend on newness, strategies that depend on balance, and strategies that depend on self-knowledge.

Habit Strategies That Depend on Newness

Rubin introduces three habit strategies that depend on newness: Start now; pair a new habit with a new beginning; and take advantage of an “Aha!” moment.

Start Now

It’s easy enough to say “start now” when it comes to new habits, but it can be hard to do. Rubin says this is because we often imagine that in the future, we’ll be more capable of sticking to good habits (and have more time, energy, and money). In addition, sometimes the longer we put off a task, the more reluctant we are to start it at all. Depending on what works best for you, you can overcome these mental blocks by taking baby steps or going all-out.

(Shortform note: What causes these mental blocks? Our tendency to believe we’ll improve over time may be due to what scientists call the optimism bias, which makes the human brain [overestimate the odds of success in the...

Shortform Exercise: Understand Yourself to Change Your Habits

Rubin argues that understanding yourself can help you change your habits to become a better person. Examine what kind of person you are and which strategies for forming good habits (and breaking bad ones) might work best for your unique personality.

Consider which aspects of your identity are so ingrained that you can’t or don’t want to change them completely. For example, are you a morning person or a night person? A “go big” person or a “baby steps” person? A minimalist or a maximalist?