A (0:00)

Gretchen. I'm Gretchen Rubin, and this is a little happier. An idiosyncratic thing about my family is that we all do high intensity weight training. I was the first to try it, and then my mother in law started. Then my husband Jamie, my sister Elizabeth, my parents, and my father in law. We've all been doing it for, well, more than a decade, very consistently, in fact. The not long before he died, my father's poor performance during a weight training session was one of the first signs that his health had taken a sharp turn for the worse. I've also convinced about 50 of my friends to do it. I am such a fan of this highly efficient, effective form of exercise. So anyway, we're a little bit bonkers about weight training in my family, so maybe it's understandable that we'd push our daughters Eliza and Eleanor to do it too. We wanted Eleanor to start doing it when she was just 8 years old. Don't worry, we made sure that she did it in a way that was safe for a young child back then. As I was explaining to Eleanor what this kind of exercise was and why we all did it and why we wanted her to do it, she said something that I never forgot. She wasn't very enthusiastic about the prospect, especially when I described the main feature of this kind of training. You lift a very heavy weight, one at the outer limit of your capacity, and do repetitions until you can't do any more, which is about 8 to 15 repetitions. This approach is called working to failure and it's very challenging. She listened to me. Then she said in a resigned, self encouraging, 8 year old way, it will be hard, but after a while it will get easier. And I had to say to her, no, honey, it's always as hard as it can possibly be. The point of this kind of exercise is it never gets easier, but you get stronger. And I've realized that many things in life are this way. Parenting, job promotions, volunteer projects. They don't get easier, but we get stronger. I'm Gretchen Rubin and I hope this makes your week a little happier.

B (2:34)

Hi Gretchen, Craig Robinson and my little sister Michelle here we host a new podcast called IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. We know you're the queen of giving advice, so we wanted to get a few tips from you. You know, Gretchen, a lot of our listeners are going through some major life changes. What advice do you have for folks who are trying to stay grounded in the midst of major life transitions?

A (3:00)

Craig and Michelle, I am so happy to be talking to you. Here are a few questions that might help us gain perspective. So consider questions like this what activities take up my time but are not particularly useful or stimulating for me? Do I spend a lot of time on something that's important to someone else but is not very important to me? If I could magically change one habit in my life, what would I choose? And here's a question Would I like to have more time in solitude, restorative solitude, or or would I like to have more time with friends? You know, just thinking about questions like this can help us start to figure out how we might make our lives happier. With greater self knowledge, we're better able to make hard decisions that reflect ourselves, our own nature, our own interests, our own values. In my own case, I have found that the more my life reflects my nature, the happier I get and the more grounded I feel when I'm going through a period of major change or transition. For more great advice, search for IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. Wherever you get podcasts, you can listen to Issa Rae on letting go of certain friendships Keke Palmer on why disappointment is actually the key to career success Seth and Lauren Rogan on caring for aging parents and so many more.