← Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Ep. 522: Tenth Anniversary! Best Try-This-At-Home Ideas, Happiness Hacks, and Highlights
00:37:47
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- [00:00]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretch, you know, I am really trying to be healthier and I am succeeding, I want to say. But even though I'm trying to be healthier, that does not mean that I want to spend a ton on groceries. What I have found is that at Whole Foods Market, you can save every day even without a sale.
- [00:18]
Gretchen Rubin
You can find these great prices in store and online. Shop Whole Foods Market on Amazon and get free pickup and convenient delivery on all your wellness journey essentials. Terms apply. Save on your wellness routine with great everyday prices at Whole Foods Market.
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Elizabeth Craft
Lemonada.
- [00:51]
Gretchen Rubin
Hello and welcome to Happier, a podcast that gives you ideas and strategies for making life happier. This week is a celebration episode. It is our 10th anniversary. I'm Gretchen Rubin coming to you for the 10th year in a row. I'm a writer who studies happiness, good habits, human nature, secrets of adulthood. Yes, I am here in my little home office in New York City, and joining me today from Los Angeles is my sister, Elizabeth Craft, my sister, the sage and my co host for a decade.
- [01:24]
Elizabeth Craft
Wow. That. That is me, Elizabeth Craft. I am still a TV writer and producer living in LA. And Gretchen, I am so happy to celebrate 10 years of happier with you.
- [01:37]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes. And so we are going to jump in, we're going to do a lot of our highlights, favorite moments, milestones, all that. But first, I have another extremely exciting announcement. So many things are happening all at once. My book that is coming out April 1st is Secrets of Adulthood. This is my collection of the secrets of adulthood that I have collected to remind myself of all the lessons that I've learned the hard way through life. This was a book that I really wanted to write. I write about in Life in five Senses how I got the idea that I could write this book. It was an absolute joy to write. It's a series of one line or one paragraph observations. So it's very different from the kind of book that I usually write. It was just so much fun.
- [02:20]
Elizabeth Craft
Well, Gretchen, I've got to tell you, I was actually looking around online the other day and I noticed this book was available for print. I said, I can't believe Gretchen has not told me this yet, but I did pre order. So I may be your very first pre order.
- [02:35]
Gretchen Rubin
Oh, well, you're such a good sister, Elizabeth. I use the mug that you gave me that says pre order early and often because that is something that I say so many times because it really does help a book. It's one of these things where it just really builds interest in a book among booksellers and readers and Journalists. And it's one of these things that if you're inclined to buy a book, if you pre order it, you're really, really helping the writer and the fate of the book. So if you want to go to the pre order page, get a lot of information about the book. The COVID was extremely hard to get, but it turned out so well. It was a great example of how someone with a visual imagination can convey an idea visually, which I thought, how do you convey this visually? They found a way. Go to happiercast.com secrets so that is the. Look forward to this new book that is coming out April 1st. But now, Elizabeth, let us reflect on our decade together. It seems like yesterday and a thousand years ago that we had our first conversation about whether we would do it. But first, let's remind ourselves what the world was like on February 25th, 2015. That is, the actual anniversary is February 25th. What was going on in 2015?
- [03:47]
Elizabeth Craft
Well, Barack Obama was in his second term as president. Taylor Swift's 1989 album was everywhere. We thought she was as big as she could get. Then Gretch, but, oh, no, she got bigger.
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Gretchen Rubin
Jon Stewart announced that he would leave the Daily Show. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was topping bestseller lists. Scandal and how to Get Away with Murder were the shows that ruled Thursday nights.
- [04:12]
Elizabeth Craft
50 Shades of Gray had just been released in theaters. And the dress, Remember the dress on the Internet? Was it blue in black or white? And gold was breaking the Internet.
- [04:23]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, I wrote about that in Life in Five Senses because it's one of those things where it was like, oh, this is probably just one of those things. And no vision. Scientists were like, oh, my gosh, what does this mean? It led to a huge surge of research into sight. Hamilton was still in previews at the Public Theater. The Apple Watch was just about to be released. Binge watching had just been added to the dictionary. Wow, Elizabeth, that was before people knew about binge watching.
- [04:51]
Elizabeth Craft
Hard to imagine. And then, Gretchen, the first season of the serial podcast had just wrapped up. That was the first podcast I ever listened to.
- [04:59]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, that was a big moment in the world of podcasts. And what about in our own lives? For me, Eliza was 15, Eleanor was 10. So they were little.
- [05:07]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. And Jack was five.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. Wow.
- [05:10]
Elizabeth Craft
And Gretchen, I remember the day we debuted. I was in Hawaii on vacation, and I remember sitting on the bed in the hotel room and seeing that we had 12 downloads and thinking, oh, my gosh, 12 people, listen. I was so excited.
- [05:29]
Gretchen Rubin
I know. We were so excited. Jamie had just been cured of Hepatitis C the month before. So this was something that was just rocking. Our world was so exciting, so positive. We did not yet have our dog Barnaby, but both girls had Betta Fish, Esther and Beluga, who have left our lives, sadly. But now we have Barnaby.
- [05:49]
Elizabeth Craft
And of course, we didn't have Daisy or Nacho. I was not part of Corgi Nation at that point.
- [05:55]
Gretchen Rubin
And then looking back, I realized this was actually a huge year for me. That was the year my book Better than Before was published, which is all about habit change, which is a book. Oh, my gosh. I love writing that book. And I still talk about habits all the time. I did Oprah Super Soul Sunday. Elizabeth, you were with me. That was like an amazing sisterly adventure. And that was the year that I met the Dalai Lama.
- [06:13]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes, I remember. You went to Australia and met the Dalai Lama. Yes. And we got to go to Oprah's estate in Montecito for you to tape that. And that was an adventure.
- [06:25]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. And speaking of sisterly adventures, that was our first action as podcasters. To identify as podcasters, we went to Podcast Movement, which is now a gigantic conference. Then it was pretty small. And Elizabeth, right now, I am wearing the shirt that you made us with our logo on it because we're like, we're going to go to this conference and everybody's going to know we're the host of the happier podcast.
- [06:45]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
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Gretchen Rubin
Because we're going to wear it on our T shirts. And I have to say, it was pretty bold, but several people said they thought it was a good idea.
- [06:50]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. I remember that trip to Dallas. That was a good time.
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Gretchen Rubin
That was a good time.
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Elizabeth Craft
And then I think in my Hollywood life, Gretchen, Sarah and I were just about to start our deal with ABC Studios. So we were on the cusp of working on a show called the Family, where we met people we are still friends with today.
- [07:09]
Gretchen Rubin
That's so fun. And. Well, if you're curious to hear about our very first episode, we will drop it into the feed as a more happier. It'll be a revisited episode. Do that on March 1st. Elizabeth. We were really nervous in those early days.
- [07:24]
Elizabeth Craft
We were so nervous. And I think of that when I've got someone on the podcast, this one, or happier in Hollywood, who isn't used to doing podcasts.
- [07:33]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes.
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Elizabeth Craft
You forget, it is very nerve wracking just to have a microphone in front of you if you're not used to it.
- [07:38]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, yeah.
- [07:39]
Elizabeth Craft
But here we are, Gretch, 10 years later, with 10 years worth of Material to choose from to talk about today.
- [07:47]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. During this discussion, we'll refer to a lot of episodes by their episode number. And it may be easier to find a particular episode by looking@happiercast.com and the number rather than in a podcast app. You can find it in the podcast app, too. It just might be slightly easier to do it on happiercast.com yeah, you could.
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Elizabeth Craft
Just type in the episode number and it'll come right up.
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Gretchen Rubin
We did a poll online. It turns out that everybody's favorite segments, no surprise, is Try this at Home. And this has been in the podcast from the very first day. Our very first pilot episode started with a Try this at Home. And Elizabeth, it's not surprising to me, but I guess it's very vindicating that our instinct about what would be a good Try this at home remains one of our most popular ideas that people mention all the time, which is the one minute rule, which is if you can do something in less than a minute, you do it without delay. If you can hang up your coat or put a document in a file or put a mug in the dishwasher, that was all the way back in episode one.
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Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And I still try to implement that rule as much as I can because it is, as I said, it helps my marriage because it keeps the clutter to a minimum. And then, Gretch. Another one of our favorites and also listener favorites, is to observe the family update, which we did in episode two. And that was something our mom came up with, which is to email each other an update of mundane information about our lives. Just very often to check in, say, here's what I'm doing. I'm going to the doctor, here's the temperature today. And that's. It keeps us really knowledgeable about what's happening with each other day to day.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. And the motto of update is it's okay to be boring.
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Elizabeth Craft
Yes. Now a lot of times it's texting instead of emailing, but it's the same idea.
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Gretchen Rubin
And then we. We had several that were about identify your signature something, identify your signature color, identify your signature scent, identify your personal symbol. People found this to be really creative. It was really fun to see what people chose. It's funny, I saw a friend yesterday and she had like a coin purse type of thing that was in this purple. And she said to somebody, oh, this is my color. I was like, oh, yes, you're one of the people with the signature color. And this was 10 years ago. And she's still using that same signature color. So People really enjoyed those ideas.
- [10:08]
Elizabeth Craft
Love that. Now, Gretch, here's a simple one, but an important one, which is go to the doctor.
- [10:15]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. That was episode 207. And we heard several follow ups from listeners who said listening to that got me to make an appointment and go to the doctor. And sometimes it was really, really important that they had gone through with that doctor's appointment. And so it was good to realize that this is something that really can change people's lives.
- [10:34]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. All right, Gretchen, here's something that I feel like you personally have adopted in your life to the nth degree, which is celebrate minor holidays.
- [10:46]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, that was episode 88. I love minor holiday. Speaking of Jamie's hepatitis C cure, I've turned that into a family holiday. January 9th. Yes. And part of my Open door, empty nest plans is to make July 4th a family holiday to really bump it up. So, yeah, I'm a big fan of the minor holiday and finding fun in those lesser holidays. July 4th is a pretty big holiday, but in our family, we celebrated it in a minor way, and now I want to celebrate it in a major way. Consider starting a side hustle. I feel like that's more timely than ever. That was episode 116.
- [11:20]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. It used to be that a side hustle was like a brand new concept, and now I feel like everybody's got a side hustle. Hustle. A fun one was identify youy Happiness 911 song to help you through a tough time when you need it. And this led to a playlist.
- [11:38]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes. We gathered all these song suggestions from listeners and we posted it as Happier911 on Spotify. We talked about that in episode 87 and the list is still on Spotify. There's so much great music there. It's what everybody uses to boost their mood. So if you need something, check it out. In Spotify, one of our favorite scratch.
- [11:57]
Elizabeth Craft
Just because it was so fun and whimsical, is to give yourself a derby name. And this would be like your roller derby name, not your racehorse name.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yes. Yes. We didn't think of that ambiguity, but some people pointed it out.
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Elizabeth Craft
So my roller derby name is Lightning Lizzie.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yes. And I'm the Arrow because I'm Sagittarius and I'm also an upholder. So I thought, yeah, those were fun. That was deep whimsy. Deep whimsy.
- [12:21]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
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Gretchen Rubin
And then one that was really gratifying to me because I loved doing it. And then so many people told me that they loved doing it was to create a five senses portrait. This was from episode 387. This came out of writing my book, Life in Five Senses. But people did so many interesting things. Giving it as gifts, doing it as a memorial to someone who had died, doing it as a family, doing it for a place or an experience, as well as a portrait of a person. This was an idea that turned out to have a lot more different twists and turns than I had anticipated when I did it myself.
- [12:53]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. It's almost like a journal. It is.
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Gretchen Rubin
It's a different way to memorialize. Yeah, absolutely. And then I would say that. Elizabeth, among our most popular, maybe our top most popular, are what we now call the trifecta. We didn't think of these as being a unit for a while. They've all evolved over time. But now the trifecta is the one word theme for the year. This year, my theme is door, and yours is bounce. The annual challenge. Of course, we are in read 25 and 25. We've had walk, we've had go Outside, and then the list, the 25 for 25 list. And people just love these. Every year we see that among our most listened to episodes are the ones where we talk about these.
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Elizabeth Craft
People talk about their lists throughout the year.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yes.
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Elizabeth Craft
How they're doing on their list? How are other people doing? Are they changing their list?
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Gretchen Rubin
Yes.
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Elizabeth Craft
It's an ongoing conversation.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. How are they doing in the challenge? How do you keep up with it? What are you finding? Yeah, no, it's really fun.
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Elizabeth Craft
All right, Gretch, coming up, we're going to talk talk about some of our favorite happiness hacks. But first, this break. Gretch, I really want to get into a better meal routine this year, which is not easy between work, life, and everything else. But Adam and I really want to cook, which is why it's great that we found Marley Spoon. This podcast is sponsored by Marley Spoon, and I'm genuinely excited about this because it's helping me fast track my way to eating well without all the stress. And with our code happier, you can get up to 27 free meals. We made the Parmesan thyme chicken, and we picked this partially because it's under 30 minutes. And I love that you can say how long you're willing to spend on a meal, because I know for me, it's no more than 30 minutes.
- [14:51]
Gretchen Rubin
Well, that's the great thing about Marley Spoon. It just makes it ridiculously easy to make everything. You get that feeling of accomplishment, like, hey, I actually made this. This new year. Fast track your way to eating well with Marley spoon. Head to marleyspoon.com offer happier and use code happier for up to 27 free meals. That's right. Up to 27 free meals with Marley Spoon one last time. That's Marley spoon.com offer happier for up to 27 free meals. And make sure you use our promo code happier so they know we sent you this new year. Why not let Audible expand your life by listening? Explore over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts and exclusive Audible originals that'll inspire and motivate you. Just open the app and tap into your well being with advice and insight from leading influencers, experts and professionals your focus or interest. There's a listen for it on Audible. You'll find titles on better health, including personal fitness, nutrition and relaxation.
- [15:56]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah, Gretch, I am all about Audible. I cannot get enough audiobooks right now. I'm listening to Colored television by Danzi Senna and I am obsessed with it. Plus on Audible you can find insight and expert advice on health, relationships, career, finance, so much more. Start listening today. Sign up for a free 30 day trial at audible.com happier okay, Elizabeth, the.
- [16:28]
Gretchen Rubin
Happiness hack segment, which is now every week, was your idea because we threw in a couple of hacks and people love a hack. We love a hack. So we thought let's just do this every week. And we have many, many, many favorites. So let's just pick a handful of a few.
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Elizabeth Craft
Yeah, Gretch, one thing I love about our hacks is they can be something tiny or something huge. Y anything can be a hack. And sometimes it's the tiny ones that resonate the most.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. And sometimes we're suggesting like a product that somebody can buy, like my electric foot warmer that I keep talking about or my Krups egg cooker which I talk about to this day. But most of them are just reminders or thoughts or like reframing or just ideas that solve a problem. One of my own personal favorites, and I keep telling people about this is if you have, especially if you have little kids, but in general, if you have a lot of sort of trinkets, you know, with kids you get stuff in gift bags or they get little things like super balls or miniature set of colored pencils. And these things are sort of worth keeping, but there's no real way to put them away because they're just small. And gym cracks, I put them in apothecary jars. Now I did glass jars, but now having done it, I would say do something that's like a really nice plastic so that it's not breakable And I talked about this in episode 323 because it looks great. Like, if you put these on a shelf, they're really colorful. They're very decorative. And then if you have kids who come over and you don't know what to do with them, you just tell them, dump out whatever's in the jars and look through it. And they'll just spend hours looking through all these little. Just this little nonsense thing. But it's good enough to keep, you know, it's not trash. But then where do you put it? I read about that also in outer order, inner calm. I felt like it was a win, win, win.
- [18:06]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. Just the other day, Gretchen, I used a glass jar on my bathroom counter for some hair stuff that I have laying around. And it is much better having it in the jar.
- [18:17]
Gretchen Rubin
Everything looks better on a tray and everything looks better in a jar. That's the secret of adult.
- [18:21]
Elizabeth Craft
Another thing people love from hacks is hacking cubes.
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Gretchen Rubin
Now, you really led the way on that. My whole family now is so deep into packing cubes because of you.
- [18:31]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And I have to give credit to Sarah, my co host of Happier in Hollywood, because she is the one who pressed me to get packing cubes. She was an early adopter, I would.
- [18:42]
Gretchen Rubin
Say, like Eleanor probably I could get her another set of packing cubes. She's always asking me if we have more, and I'm like, no, you're using all of them. So people love those. That was episode 403. Here's one that is near to our hearts, which is reminding people how to share a podcast episode, that if you're listening in a podcast app, there's usually a very easy way to just email or text somebody a specific episode. We talked about that in episode 388. And it's funny. A lot of people just didn't realize you could do that. It's super simple. I do it all the time to people. And just as a side note, if you would like to do something nice for us, because it is our anniversary, this is huge. If there's something that we're talking about that you think somebody would like, if you just send them the episode, it really, really helps whether you've been listening for a month or a decade. You know, we say this all the time. The way most people discover our show is because somebody recommends it to them. And especially if there's something that would be of particular interest to them, of course, that's just gonna be more engaging.
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Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. That's how I start listening to almost all of My new podcasts is somebody sends me an episode and I like it, and then I follow.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, exactly.
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Elizabeth Craft
Okay, another one. Gretchen, look behind you when you get up. Especially at a restaurant, airplane, anywhere where you're walking out, look behind you will save yourself a lot of aggravation, people.
- [20:03]
Gretchen Rubin
Still, we get a regular stream of emails from people saying, like, thank you so much for that, because I was about to leave behind my phone or my purse or my sunglasses. Yeah. My perfect airplane shawl or whatever. And here's something related. This one is bananas. It sounds so. It sounds like, what are you even talking about? And yet it works so well. And people say this to me all the time as something that has worked is if you cannot find something, if something is lost, you're looking for something in your home, go to where you think that thing is supposed to be and look very, very hard. Because what often happens is that thing is hidden or it's in the wrong pocket of your backpack, but it is in your backpack or whatever, and you've sort of panicked and now you're running around looking everywhere. Instead of really, really looking where you think that thing ought to be. Have you pulled out the drawer to see, could that passport have gotten jammed in the back, as happened to me? Or you're looking for an iPad and somebody put down a magazine accidentally. Exactly. Over the iPad. So it looked like it was just a magazine, but it was actually the magazine on the iPad, but you didn't look closely enough where you thought it should be, which also happened to me. So this is one that it sounds like, well, obviously I'm gonna look where I thought that thing was supposed to be. Really look hard.
- [21:25]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. That works almost every time.
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Gretchen Rubin
Yeah.
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Elizabeth Craft
Well, Gretch, we love hacks so much, so we've done a few hack focused, very special episodes, which are super popular. We had a hacks experience extravaganza in episode 290.
- [21:41]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. That covered a lot of different subjects.
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Elizabeth Craft
And then in 4:20, we had hacks for using the five senses for a happier life.
- [21:48]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, that's because writing life in five senses, I just realized there's so many ways to recruit our five senses to make us happier, healthier, more productive, more creative, calmer, all those things. So we did hacks all related to the five senses. That was super fun.
- [22:02]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
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Gretchen Rubin
Well, and speaking of the very special episodes, Elizabeth, this again, was your idea. This was that every 10th episode, we would do something different. We would shake it up. A lot of times they're all dedicated to a theme or something. And the very first Very Special episode is still one of my all time, very favorite episodes of all episodes, which was episode 10, very first very Special episode. It was the closet clearing montage. And you know, and we loved it so much. That's how we got the idea to do a Very special episode every 10th time. But I was in LA. I was helping you clean your closet. Was that Andy Bowers came and recorded us.
- [22:40]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
- [22:40]
Gretchen Rubin
Then Henry Malofsky, our brilliant founding producer, cut it together in this montage of me trying to get you to get rid of everything and you sort of responding. And I mean, it really is hilarious.
- [22:53]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And it's funny. You wouldn't think that'd be an audio thing, right? You'd think clutter clearing would need to be visual. But it came through.
- [23:00]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, it came through.
- [23:02]
Elizabeth Craft
That was super fun.
- [23:03]
Gretchen Rubin
And I enjoyed it so much that in episode 160 we did it to clean your office.
- [23:08]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. Which needs it again, Gretchen.
- [23:11]
Gretchen Rubin
Oh, I heard you talking about it in Happier in Hollywood and I was seriously thinking, like, could I fly to LA for a weekend and just have the fun myself of helping Elizabeth clean her office? Yeah, I'll get my hands on it one of these days. But those were two really fun very Special episodes.
- [23:26]
Elizabeth Craft
Well. And your passion in life, Gretch, is reading. And we did a very special episode, episode 310, dedicated to hacks for reading more. Also a good episode for this year because we're doing read 25 and 25. So go listen to 3:10 if you want reading hacks.
- [23:45]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. A lot of great ideas that we talk about then in episode 4:30. Because, Elizabeth, one thing that both you and I are always trying to work on is to entertain more and to experience less. Hostess neurosis.
- [23:58]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
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Gretchen Rubin
Our mother is a brilliant entertainer that Gene skipped us. But we are always trying to do it more, do it better and have it more fun. So episode 430 is hacks for making entertaining easier and more fun.
- [24:11]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. I should re listen to that.
- [24:13]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah.
- [24:13]
Elizabeth Craft
And then, Gretchen, in episode 450, we did hacks for performance. So public performing is something that a lot of people struggle with. I have struggled with a lot in the past. When we were going to do our podcast tour, you know, I was terrified. I used to take beta blockers to help me not shake. Now through doing it, I didn't need them anymore. Now I don't have a problem with public performance, but we have a lot of great hacks about performing.
- [24:42]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. For how to manage, how to stay calm, how to prepare, how to handle yourself. On stage. I have to say this is something that absolutely fascinates me. And I keep notes on the side. Someday I would like to write not a whole book because I don't think I have that much to say, but a much longer discussion of performance for sort of the average person. Because because it's so much in life. You have to give a wedding toast. You have to present a report in front of a bunch of coworkers. Performance is just something that a lot of people have to do and it can be really stressful.
- [25:09]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. Coming up, we're going to talk about some happier highlights, some of our favorite things. But first, this break. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, Dell Technologies is celebrating with anniversary savings on their most popular tech for limited time only. Save on select next gen PCs like the XPS 16, powered by Intel Core Ultra processors and more. Unleash more possibilities with cutting edge systems, our most advanced features and great prices. Plus curate your dream setup with deals on select monitors, mice and more. Must have electronics and accessories.
- [26:28]
Gretchen Rubin
When you shop online@dell.com deals you'll have access to state of the art technology to match your forward thinking spirit and free shipping on everything. Anniversary savings await you for a limited time only@dell.com deals that's Dell.com deals. Okay, Elizabeth of the highlights, one of the things that I think surprised us and then also we got a big kick out of was the great thank you note debate which we first discussed in episode 63 and then it turned into a deep dive in episode 67 because so many people had so much to say.
- [27:11]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And just for a reminder, I think this came out of the fact that I gave myself a demerit for not writing thank you notes. And then you and I were discussing how necessary are thank you notes.
- [27:23]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes.
- [27:23]
Elizabeth Craft
And boy, people have strong opinions.
- [27:26]
Gretchen Rubin
They sure do. Yes. We had a couple of episodes where we shared happiness lessons from teachers. We've gotten so many great ideas, suggestions, observations from teachers over the years. That was in episodes 324 and 326 because we had so much great material.
- [27:42]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretch Another highlight and I Think it's time we do another one of these, by the way, was our Unplugged episode, which was 1:50, where people are always interested in our sisterly relationship. And so this was just us talking on the phone. It wasn't an actual episode. It was just us chatting.
- [28:00]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, well. And in fact, it was so popular that that's what led us to do the More Happiers, where it's less structured, where it's just, as I say, a looser vibe, because people really responded to that. And one very profound idea that people return to over and over again. And I just did a Little happier about it. So I'll post a link to the Little Happier where I talk about it, which was when a listener wrote in and said that she had lost a ring that was very precious to her, and she just couldn't get over it. So the question was, how do I make peace with the fact that I have lost this item that was so important to me? And a listener wrote in and said, in Japan, we believe that sometimes an object could sacrifice itself for you. And so perhaps this beloved ring had sacrificed itself. It had lost itself in order to save you, preserve you from something bad happening. And we often talk about reframing, and this was a very unexpected way to reframe it. And it seems to have really struck a chord because very regularly people will say, where was the discussion of that ring and the ring sacrificing itself? So I'll post a link to the Little Happier because I go through what each person says.
- [29:10]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretch. Another highlight has been our kind of series of decks episodes.
- [29:15]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, we're due for another one, Elizabeth.
- [29:16]
Elizabeth Craft
I know. So this started with Clear the Decks, which was an idea you had. It was episode 443, and it was the official end of summer. And it was a differently structured episode because we were listing things people should do to clear the decks. That would take mostly, like a minute. Some of them were longer. And then we would say, okay, go do that, and then come back and listen to the next thing.
- [29:42]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, the idea was that if you did it along the way, by the time you were done listening to the podcast, it would've taken much longer because you would've stopped and done these things. But by the end, you would have taken care of all sorts of nagging tasks that might have. Otherwise, you would have just procrastinated or not gotten around to.
- [29:57]
Elizabeth Craft
And then, Gretch, that led to a more happier episode, which was Sweep the Decks, which was quick prep to get ready for summer.
- [30:05]
Gretchen Rubin
And Then we did Deck the Halls, which was all about getting ready for the holidays. So we're really having fun with this decks theme. Clear the decks, sweep the decks. Deck the Halls. And I have to say, because the way we would just make a suggestion and then there's a sound that chimes that you're like, okay, stop the podcast and go. I was afraid that people might find this extremely irritating. So it was one of those things where we're like, let's just throw some spaghetti against the wall. And it was fun to see that people really got a kick out of it.
- [30:32]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. So if anybody has more ideas for deck episodes, let us know.
- [30:37]
Gretchen Rubin
And like, how to use the word decks. Cut the decks. Stay tuned. We have ideas.
- [30:42]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretch. This is a recent episode, but has to be one of my all time favorite highlights, which is our voice memos from England from our walking trip in England this summer.
- [30:55]
Gretchen Rubin
Chuck's idea. Chuck's suggested that we do these voice recordings and make it into an episode.
- [31:01]
Elizabeth Craft
It just reminds me listening to it of the trip all over again. Takes us back.
- [31:06]
Gretchen Rubin
It really does. It's a great memento. Now I have to say my favorite moment absolutely without question. Sometimes I even think about this when I need to get my picture taken because it always makes me break out in like a gen. You know, they're always like, have a genuine smile. And you're like, how do I do that? I either think about the time that Jamie walked into our bedroom the first year we were married in his boxer shorts and said, I am lord of the dance and started doing that kind of dancing, which makes me laugh every time he's refused to do it again. But the ped egg discussion I can revisit anytime I want. That was episode 85 when you were talking about the pedig. Please explain what you were talking about.
- [31:44]
Elizabeth Craft
We were saying, have you ever been upset by a well intentioned gift?
- [31:48]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes. This was just a thoughtful question.
- [31:51]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
- [31:51]
Gretchen Rubin
Somebody gave you a vacuum cleaner and you were like, is this all I am to you? Or whatever.
- [31:55]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And I said, I've never been upset. But thinking about it, it's possible that my mother in law could have been upset by the electric pet egg that I gave her.
- [32:07]
Gretchen Rubin
Explain what a pet egg is for.
- [32:09]
Elizabeth Craft
A pet eg that you use on calluses on your feet to scrape them off. Now, the reason I got her the gift, it needs to be said again, and I said it at the time, is because I wanted this for myself. So they say, get people what you'd like for Yourself. And it just didn't cross my mind that this could be me saying, hey lady, work on those calluses. So she never mentioned it to me. It was a year where we actually were in la, so I left the gift at her house. So we never actually talked about it in detail.
- [32:46]
Gretchen Rubin
Oh my gosh.
- [32:47]
Elizabeth Craft
But she's so gracious. She would never have been offended.
- [32:50]
Gretchen Rubin
I mean, the thing that I love about it, that it just makes me laugh so hard is you're so innocently well intentioned. Like I can picture your face in the drugstore when you're pulling it off the shelf. Your train of thought. And your mother in law is a gracious person. Like, I'm sure she wouldn't have taken offense or probably even thought anything of it, imagining what someone might have thought and might have reacted. And now anytime we are together and we are in a drugstore, do I or do I not run to the ped egg and take a selfie with it?
- [33:20]
Elizabeth Craft
You do. Every single time. And I want to say, Gretchen, I did end up getting myself both an electric ped egg and a non electric pet egg, so.
- [33:29]
Gretchen Rubin
Oh my gosh. Okay.
- [33:30]
Elizabeth Craft
I can work on my own calluses.
- [33:34]
Gretchen Rubin
Oh, it's so funny. Well, the debate, I would say, okay, the debate that we had at the beginning was the thank you note debate. And the debate that we having these days is the ungrammatical use of more happier. Oh, Elizabeth, are you feeling more happier? Yes, I'm feeling more happier. Should we say it that way, ungrammatically? Is that fun and whimsical? Is that ungrammatical and annoying? We've heard from both sides. We did it one way, now we're doing it the other way. We will revisit this over time. But it is funny that it got people so fired up.
- [34:06]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. I love that people care. Whatever their opinion, either way, I love that they care.
- [34:12]
Gretchen Rubin
I love that they care. And Elizabeth, we often talk about the importance of making a ta da list in addition to a to do list. So let's talk about some milestones, some ta dahs that we had along the way. A huge one is you started another podcast, Happier in Hollywood, with your writing partner, Sarah Fane. That was huge.
- [34:29]
Elizabeth Craft
We've added littles that you do and the mores on Saturdays.
- [34:34]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, we did our first live show. Then we did another live show. Then eventually we went on a tour that was a huge deal for us.
- [34:41]
Elizabeth Craft
We made merchandise. You can buy your merch on your website.
- [34:45]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, get some merch. We did a happier podcast. Meetup that was super fun.
- [34:49]
Elizabeth Craft
We started the Happier podcast book club. We've had amazing people like Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Isaac Mizrahi, and Lamott. So many more.
- [35:00]
Gretchen Rubin
We've added a button at the end, and if you don't listen to the end, you may not realize that we have, like, a little P.S. that plays after the credits. It's just something that's come up along the episode. It's like a little bit of extra content.
- [35:11]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretchen, during COVID Covid, we did an Instagram live show five days a week.
- [35:17]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes.
- [35:18]
Elizabeth Craft
Four months.
- [35:19]
Gretchen Rubin
That was great. That was the lifeline. Well, speaking of happier in Hollywood, you and Sarah just started a newsletter, your substack newsletter. I would say that is adjacent. Milestone.
- [35:28]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. And if anybody wants to subscribe, go to happierinhollywood.com and scroll down and add your email where it says, join the party.
- [35:37]
Gretchen Rubin
Well, and Elizabeth, now, this is our latest milestone. Ten years, huge. And I looked it up, and this is our tin or aluminum anniversary. And the daffodil is the flower of the 10th anniversary. So I'm trying to think about. Can I get you a tin daffodil or something like that?
- [35:54]
Elizabeth Craft
I love that.
- [35:55]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. I have to put my mind to the right thing.
- [35:57]
Elizabeth Craft
Well, Gretchen, as we think about our 10th anniversary, it is staggering to think about the number of likes, you knows, ums and ahs that Chuck, our ever patient executive producer, has had to cut out of the episode.
- [36:13]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah. Let's have just a little taste of what Chuck cuts out. Let us reflect on. On. On. On our. That. That. That. Those ideas, you know, like, do we do. Well, it's kind of a. And then it was. It. We. Um. But, you know. Oh. Oh, did I miss something? Oh, I just missed. Should I just.
- [36:43]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah.
- [36:44]
Gretchen Rubin
Okay. I'll say that to. Just to. To sort of more.
- [36:48]
Elizabeth Craft
Oh, yeah. And then Gretch.
- [36:50]
Gretchen Rubin
Or. Or. Or. Whoa.
- [36:52]
Elizabeth Craft
Wow.
- [36:56]
Gretchen Rubin
It. It's. It's. You know, so. And then if, you know. Wow. Oh, wow.
- [37:06]
Elizabeth Craft
Wait, Gretch, something. You went.
- [37:08]
Gretchen Rubin
Okay. Okay, so I'll say. Yeah, yeah, it's your turn. It's your. Well, yeah.
- [37:15]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
- [37:17]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah.
- [37:17]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
- [37:18]
Gretchen Rubin
Whoa.
- [37:19]
Elizabeth Craft
Okay. Oh, shoot.
- [37:21]
Gretchen Rubin
Gosh, that's. I did not know that. That is very funny. Wait, I'm gonna sneeze. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [37:34]
Elizabeth Craft
So anyway, you know, like, we are.
- [37:38]
Gretchen Rubin
We just did an adult.
- [37:39]
Elizabeth Craft
We did. Okay. Okay, so it's your turn.
- [37:41]
Gretchen Rubin
Wait, wait. So where did we do the ad? So we don't. So we know. Chuck, do you remember what it was about? Oh, no. Maybe this Is the ad. No. Maybe. Or wait, did we break. Okay, so.
- [37:50]
Elizabeth Craft
Okay, so you know.
- [37:52]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah.
- [37:52]
Elizabeth Craft
So it's your turn.
- [37:53]
Gretchen Rubin
Okay. Okay.
- [37:56]
Elizabeth Craft
Um.
- [38:03]
Gretchen Rubin
Okay, so where is the.
- [38:11]
Elizabeth Craft
Whenever I hear those, I just think, oh my gosh, can I speak at all?
- [38:16]
Gretchen Rubin
I know, I know, I know. Well, we got so many suggestions from listeners about their favorite moments and the most useful suggestions from the past 10 years. It was super fun to see what everybody had to say. There was so much. And they're still coming in, so we will highlight those in an upcoming episode. What listeners said resonated the most with them. That's super fun.
- [38:37]
Elizabeth Craft
Yeah. So keep those coming. And Gretchen, what are our featured resources this week?
- [38:42]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes, it's the 10th anniversary celebration sale. There's up to 70% off favorite items. That's T shirts, drink wares, journals, the happiness hacks card deck. Go to happiercast.com celebration if you want to take advantage of the sale. And then just a reminder of so many resources that we've created over the years can all be found@happiercast.com resources. You can get a signed personalized book plate. If you are in the US And Canada. You can get our collection of wedding readings and funeral readings and memorial service readings. Those are suggestions from us and also we gathered them from listeners.
- [39:18]
Elizabeth Craft
There's the calendar of Catalyst book excerpts.
- [39:21]
Gretchen Rubin
From all of my books. And then there's all the bingo cards. You know, I really embrace the bingo card. And we have a brand new 10th anniversary bingo card with our favorite Try this at home hacks from the past 10 years. So you can get the bingo card and try to get yourself bingo.
- [39:36]
Elizabeth Craft
And finally, Gretchen, no demerits this week. We're just doing a big gold star.
- [39:41]
Gretchen Rubin
Yeah, a big gold star to the listeners who join us every week. And here are some additional gold stars. You get an extra gold star if you've taken the time to rate, review, follow and recommend. You know how important it is to us. We give you a big gold star if you are a completist. Remember, you have no obligation to listen to every episode. Do not feel any pressure to go back and listen from the beginning. But we do know that many of you are completists and we really appreciate your enthusiasm. And we also really appreciate if you have written in to comment or suggest. We can't always comment on them or bring them into the show, but we both read them all. It's a highlight of our days. Elizabeth.
- [40:22]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes. We've gotten so many good ideas from listeners.
- [40:25]
Gretchen Rubin
Yes, right in. We love to hear from everybody and.
- [40:28]
Elizabeth Craft
Then of course, huge gold star to Chuck, our ever patient, ever calm producer who makes us sound good every week.
- [40:39]
Gretchen Rubin
Absolutely. Chuck is the best. So again, you can find all these resources@gretchenrubin.com resources if you go to happiercast.com 522, you can find so many things related to this episode. Remember, if you're trying to look up an episode by number, that's probably easier to do on my website@happiercast.com rather than in one of your podcast apps, but you can use your apps if that's easier for you. And that is it for this 10th anniversary episode of Happier. Thank you so much for listening.
- [41:16]
Elizabeth Craft
Thank you to our executive producer, Chuck Reed and everyone at Lemonada.
- [41:20]
Gretchen Rubin
Here's your rhyming reminder. Like what you heard?
- [41:23]
Elizabeth Craft
Spread the word until next week. I'm Elizabeth Craft.
- [41:26]
Gretchen Rubin
And I'm Gretchen Rubin. Thanks for joining us. Onward and upward for the next 10 years.
- [41:43]
Elizabeth Craft
Gretchen. So at our 20th anniversary, think about the kids. They'll really be grown up.
- [41:50]
Gretchen Rubin
I know, I know.
- [41:52]
Elizabeth Craft
Jack will be 25.
- [41:54]
Gretchen Rubin
Wow. That a lot happens in 10 years.
- [41:58]
Elizabeth Craft
Yes.
- [42:03]
Gretchen Rubin
From the onward project.