Halfway Day Check-In—Plus, How to Adjust Your Habits for Summer

Summary

Podcast Summary: Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Episode Title: Halfway Day Check-In—Plus, How to Adjust Your Habits for Summer
Date: June 20, 2026
Hosts: Gretchen Rubin & Elizabeth Craft

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Overview

In this episode, Gretchen Rubin and her sister/co-host Elizabeth Craft dive into practical strategies for making the most of summertime by intentionally designing seasonal habits, using the arrival of “Halfway Day” (July 2nd, the midpoint of the year) as a checkpoint for reviewing and adjusting personal goals. The discussion emphasizes adapting routines to the unique rhythms of summer, celebrating progress, and answering listener questions about sustaining habits through life changes and hectic seasons.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Concept of “Design Your Summer”

• Gretchen shares her tradition of formally “designing” her summer by choosing a project or theme that makes the season feel distinct and memorable.
  • Inspiration came from Robertson Davies’s essay, “Three Worlds, Three Summers,” especially the line:

    “Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather.” – Robertson Davies (04:01)

• Examples of past themes:
  • Summer of Proust: Gretchen spent one summer reading all of Remembrance of Things Past, which gave the season a unique character.
  • Summer of Virginia Woolf: Rereading favorite novels at a new stage in life for deeper meaning.
  • Summer of Tsundoku: Tackling her backlog of unread books—focusing only on books she already owns (Tsundoku is a Japanese word for piling up books to read).
    • “Not only am I having the pleasure of reading, I’m having the pleasure of clearing my shelves.” (07:35)

2. Ideas for Designing Your Summer

• Adapt “design your summer” to your own interests, needs, and local context:
  • Weekly hikes
  • Summer of adventures (exploring within a car ride of home)
  • Summer of friends/entertaining (hosting regular gatherings)
  • Summer of catch-up (tackling nagging to-dos)
• Naming projects/the seasons elevates ordinary activities, sparking fun and motivation.
  • “If we give something a fun name, if we turn it into a special project or challenge… it makes ordinary activities more fun.” (09:16)

3. Why Change is Essential for Habits and Happiness

• Distinction makes time rich and memorable; monotony accelerates the calendar.
• “When we do things to make time stand apart, time feels slower and more rich.” (10:40)
• Using seasonal transitions to review and refresh plans.

4. Three Ways to Adjust Your Habits for Summer

[15:36]

1. Tweak Existing Habits
   • Adjust duration, frequency, intensity, strategy, or tracking method based on new summer routines.
   • E.g., If it’s too hot for mid-day exercise, switch to mornings; replace evening tidy with weekly “power hours” of decluttering.
2. Add Summer-Specific Habits
   • Inject pleasure, novelty, and rest—make summer itself “feel” special.
   • Examples: outdoor breakfasts, sunsets, visiting all local parks, adding creative/playful rituals.
3. Safeguard Progress and Plan for Disruptions
   • Use “if/then” planning for inevitable interruptions (“If a friend invites me last minute, then I'll reduce my daily writing to 15 minutes.”)
   • Set Planned Exceptions (e.g., “I’ll skip my run only if temps are above 95°F, then switch to indoor yoga”) to avoid impulsive backsliding while maintaining intentionality.
   • “Planned exceptions…are exceptions. So this isn’t something that lasts for a week or a month or indefinitely. This is like a one-day thing.” (19:50)
   • Reflect on how you’ll feel after making exceptions—be honest about whether you're truly choosing or avoiding.

5. Listener Q&A: Real-Life Challenges and Solutions

Q1: How should I celebrate making it to the halfway point?

[25:14]

• Focus on meaningful markers, not generic rewards; choose something that deepens the habit.

• E.g., Upgrade a useful tool (new yoga mat/shoes), not a treat that undermines your progress.

• Celebrate your persistence, recognize progress, but avoid the “moral licensing loophole” (rewarding good behavior by abandoning the habit).

  “You’re giving yourself something that is taking you deeper into your habit, not undermining your habit.” – Gretchen Rubin (25:42)

Q2: How can I reset and carve out time for myself amidst overwhelming responsibilities?

[27:01]

• Gretchen suggests the listener may be an “Obliger” (one of her Four Tendencies) needing outer accountability for follow-through—set up structures where others expect you to stick with your habit.
• Track time meticulously for a week or two (inspired by Laura Vanderkam) to discover hidden pockets.
• Be honest about where responsibility lies (are you doing tasks for others that could be delegated?).
• “With obligers… you must create a system of outer accountability. That is essential.” (28:11)

Q3: How to maintain habits during a major life challenge?

[30:55]

• Reduce habit frequency or duration but try to keep a streak going, if at all possible, as maintaining the rhythm is often easier than restarting.
• If you must fully pause, pick a firm restart date and put it in your calendar (avoiding open-ended hiatuses).
• “You want to make sure when you’re going to reengage. But again, I think it’s better to do it every day and just keep that habit going.” (32:10)

6. Tools and Apps

• Design Your Summer Tool in the Happier App:
  • Lets users create a summer reading queue, track progress, and compile a summer “bucket list.”
    • “It can help you make those intentions more concrete.” (32:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On summer as a designed season:

  “My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures. And adventures are what make a summer.” – Quoting Robertson Davies (03:21)

• On the power of themed summers:

  “There really was something about the Summer of Proust that makes it stand out in my memory and also made it feel very fun.” – Gretchen Rubin (05:36)

• On distinguishing different times:

  “When we do things to make time stand apart, time feels slower and more rich.” – Gretchen Rubin (10:40)

• On planned exceptions:

  “You do not decide impulsively in the moment. That is the difference with planned exceptions, and they are exceptions.” – Gretchen Rubin (18:00)

• On outer accountability:

  “With obligers… you must create a system of outer accountability. That is essential.” – Gretchen Rubin (28:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:22] — Show opens, framing the “Halfway Day” and habit refresh
• [03:15] — Gretchen introduces "Design Your Summer" and personal projects
• [05:00-08:00] — Examples: Summer of Proust, Virginia Woolf, Tsundoku
• [12:25] — Preview: Three ways to adjust habits for summer
• [15:36] — Strategies for shifting habits: tweaking, adding, safeguarding
• [22:17] — Listener Q&A: celebrating milestones, creating time, handling disruptions
• [32:38] — Spotlight: Happier App’s summer tools

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Recap: Actionable Steps

• Reflect on your “Halfway Day”—review progress, adjust or refresh your aims for the rest of the year.
• Intentionally design your summer: choose a theme, project, or mood that excites you.
• Tweak existing habits to suit the season (adjusting time, location, or structure).
• Add summer-specific pleasures—rituals, rest, novelty.
• Set up systems and make “if/then” plans and planned exceptions to sustain good habits through disruptions.
• Use habit-tracking apps or tools for support and accountability.
• Remember: “The best time to start a happiness project is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Gretchen Rubin (33:31)

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Tone & Takeaway

Warm, practical, encouraging, and a little playful, this episode invites listeners to rethink how they approach both summer and their personal projects—making room for joy, flexibility, and achievement, no matter what life throws their way.

Transcript

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[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Elizabeth Craft]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

Hello, we're here for more Happier a podcast where we get happier. It is the weekend we are kicking back it's observations and reflections with a looser vibe. Hey Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Hi Gretch.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Today we're revisiting a special episode all about designing your summer and adapting your habits for the season.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Gretch, this episode came out of your Habits for Happiness course and talking about habits feels especially especially timely right now because Halfway Day is coming up.

[Gretchen Rubin]

That is right. Halfway day is on July 2nd and it's the halfway point of the year. It's a great opportunity to revisit the aims, habits and projects you identified when you designed your year and ask how's it going? What's working? What's not, what Adjustments would help me make the most of the second half of the year.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Kind of like a mid year checkpoint.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Exactly. In this episode, I'll talk about how summer's longer days and changing routines can affect our habits and share some ideas for designing your summer and answer listener questions about making habits work in real life.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Okay, let's dive in.

[Gretchen Rubin]

So one of the ideas that I love to follow every year is to design your summer. And I got the idea for Design youn Summer from a writer whom I love. I love his novels, but I also love his essays. It's Robertson Davies. And in a collection of essays called the Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies. In an essay called Three Worlds, Three Summers, Davies writes, every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather. Circumstances have not allowed me to make a good summer for myself this year. My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures. And adventures are what make a summer. So ever since I read that paragraph several years ago, I have been determined to take steps every summer to make this summer feel special. And of course, you could do this with every season. But at least here in the United States, there is something special about summer.

[Guest/Contributor]

The days are longer, the weather is warmer. If you're a kid, you're out of school.

[Gretchen Rubin]

There's just a sense that the summer

[Guest/Contributor]

is different, that it's more dedicated to travel, to fun, to play, to adventure. And so every year I say, well, what should I do to make my summer feel special?

[Gretchen Rubin]

And I often design my summer around a reading project. And the very first Design youn Summer reading project I had was I had my summer of Primary. Proust. Remembrance of Things Past is a multi volume series of novels. They are towering classics of world literature. But you know, it's a big commitment to start and read it. And it's a very particular kind of reading. It's not like reading Stephen King. And I really wanted to do it, but I wanted to read all the novels all at once. And there just never seemed to be a right time to do it. When do you sit down and tackle something like that? So I decided to do it in a summer. And it wasn't the only thing that I read that summer. But I certainly spent a really significant part of that summer reading Proust. And it was so fun. First of all, I checked something off of my list that I had always wanted to do, which was to read this major masterpiece of world literature. I read all of them, because many people read the first volume, but they don't get any further. So I was very proud of myself that I read all of them. And it really gave a very significant flavor to that particular summer. It really did give that summer a special quality from the other parts of my year and also from all other summers that I have spent. There really was something about the Summer of Proust that makes it stand out in my memory and also made it feel very fun. After that, I did my Summer of Virginia Woolf. I love Virginia Woolf. She's one of my very favorite authors. And I had read almost all of her novels, but I wanted to reread them. They have many, many layers. And I also thought that now that I was older, I would bring more to them, so I would get more from them. And again, was something that I had always wanted to do, but there just never seemed to be a really good time to tackle it. So again, summer Virginia Woolf flashboard this summer. So there is a Japanese term called tsundoku T S u n D O k u tsundoku and it refers to the feeling that you get when you have a big pile of books piled up to be read. And so I am having my Summer of Sundoku, and you should picture that as tsu u m m E r to match Sundoku, where I am tackling my shelves. I don't keep piles by my bed as much anymore, but I have many, many shelves of books that are lined up that I couldn't resist buying, but

[Guest/Contributor]

I have not yet read.

[Gretchen Rubin]

And so I am just trying to read the books that I already have

[Guest/Contributor]

and not buy any new books. And I'm also trying not to use the library. I was describing this to somebody and they're like, oh, are you using the library so much more? And I said, no, actually, I'm trying not to use the lib. I use the library all the time. I check out tons of books kind

[Gretchen Rubin]

of willy nilly, to be honest.

[Guest/Contributor]

But one of the things I want to do is really tackle these shelves and clear off some of the space on my shelves. So I'm really trying to read the books that I already own.

[Gretchen Rubin]

And of course this is hugely pleasurable

[Guest/Contributor]

because I wanted to read all these books. And it's funny because a lot of the books I read because somebody, you know, I really respect or admire had recommended them to me, but then I couldn't remember why. So then I sort of didn't have an impulse to read the book. But now that I'm reading it, I'M like, oh, this book is so fantastic. Now I understand why this, whoever it was can't remember told me to read it because I'm enjoying it so much. So this summer it's Summer of Tsundoku. And not only am I having the pleasure of reading, I'm having the pleasure of clearing my shelves. This is how I have done it. This is the right way for me. I also, because we bought this lake house which was sort of a dream come true, I have a year long vow that I will kayak every day that we are there that I can. And so one of the things I'm doing this summer is kayaking more. But I can't do that every day because a lot of the times I'm at home in New York City. But that is something else that gives the summer a different quality because the kayaking is something that I can do during the summer that I can't do other times. Now, there are many, many ways that people can design their summer in the way that's right for them. And so you might think about doing a weekly hike because the summertime is a good time, weather wise in your part of the world. Or maybe it's too hot in your part of the world and so you to figure out a different way to stick to your habit of exercise. Maybe you want to have a summer of adventures and think about all kinds of adventures that you could have within a car ride of your own home. But that would make the time feel special and full of novel and interesting adventures and visiting new places. Maybe you want to have a summer of friends where you make plans with friends Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Or it's the summer of entertaining and you have people over for backyard brunch every week. Or you can think of any that is missing in your life or that you want to amplify in your life and think of a way to bring it into the summer.

[Gretchen Rubin]

And what is it that you want your summer to hold?

[Guest/Contributor]

I was talking to someone who said

[Gretchen Rubin]

that she wanted to have a summer of fun and she planned to watch classic movies and rewatch one of her favorite television shows, but that her husband wanted a summer of ketchup. And he said that he wanted not ketchup like Heinz ketchup, but catch up like catching up. He wanted to catch up. He had so many things on this sort of minor nagging tasks on his to do list, things that he'd been meaning to do for a long time, that he just decided that this was the summer of catch up. And he was going to catch up on all these things that he had been kicking down the road. And to him, this sounded like fun. He wanted to cross these things off the list. And as so often happens, if we give something a fun name, if we turn it into a special project or challenge or make it into a little bit of an elevated activity, it makes ordinary activities more fun. So let's say you're sticking to your habit of exercise. You've been doing a really good job. You've been going to the gym, you've been running in your neighborhood. Is there a way for the summer where you can amplify what you're doing a little bit, elevate it a little bit, make it feel a little bit more special, do it in a slightly different way and take advantage of the season if you can. Because again, what makes time feel more rich and last longer is if time feels different, if every day feels exactly the same, time starts to race forward and every day feels like it runs into every other day. When we do things to make time stand apart, time feels slower and more rich. This is why when you go on a vacation, a week on vacation feels like it lasts many, many, many days, whereas a week often feels like you go from Sunday to Sunday almost within a few hours. And so taking the time to think about what you want for your summer and what that would look like can be something that will really make this time fun. And because it's more fun, it might help you to stick to it better because things that are more fun or at least different, that can often make them easier to stick to. So think about ways you can take advantage of the season. Maybe in your part of the world, you have longer days, so you can be outside longer with more light. Maybe the weather suits different kinds of activities. Maybe there's changes in routine that you can take advantage of with your vacation, travel, family and friends visiting you or you're visiting them. Maybe your kids are out of school, so they're around, or maybe they're away at summer camp so they're completely gone. Some offices take Fridays off. There might be opportunities for you to rearrange your schedule in a way that would be fun and help you keep your good habits and also make time feel more rich.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Up next, Gretchen shares three ways to adjust your habits for summer so you can keep the habits that matter most, even when your routine changes. But first, this break.

[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Elizabeth Craft]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Elizabeth Craft]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

Summer always changes what I want to wear. I stop reaching for anything heavy or complicated and just want pieces that feel light, comfortable and and easy from the, you know, the first second I put them on. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. Their linen pieces especially have become my default this time of year. I have a linen button down from Quince that you know. It's one of those pieces that works for everything. For travel, for dinner, for weekends. It feels much more expensive than it is. I love that Quince uses high quality materials like European linen and organic cotton, but everything is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com Gretchen for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com Gretchen for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Gretchen so there are three ways

[Gretchen Rubin]

to shift your habits into summer Mode, you want to tweak your existing habits to accommodate the seasonal changes. So ask yourself, do you need to adjust your habit by changing duration, frequency, intensity, strategy or tracking method? For instance, maybe you're going on a two week vacation. How might you need to adjust your habit to accommodate this change without abandoning it entirely? Remember, you don't want to just say like, oh, well, I'm going to golf on a two week vacation. I don't have to do this anymore. No. Figure out a way to stick to it in your new circumstance. So let's say maybe you need to change your daily movement routine due to warmer weather. If it's really, really hot, you may need to get your exercise earlier before the day heats up. And this can look a lot of different ways. Let's say you do an evening tidy up to keep clutter under control, and you decide that for the summer, you really want to power down. And so you're gonna add a weekly power hour of decluttering in the summer. So you're gonna lean into that, do more clutter clearing because you feel like this summer you're gonna have more time to devote to that. And so you're going to accelerate your progress in clutter clearing. On the other hand, maybe you want to add a summer specific habit to help you appreciate the season again, make it feel richer and longer and more memorable. And, and so you don't want to add another chore to your to do list. That might appeal to some people, but for you, maybe you want to think about making this season feel richer and more memorable. So you want to think about prioritizing rest or play or creativity or connection. How could you bring more of this into your life during the summer? One thing you might want to think about is what appeals to you. Do you want more comfortable or more adventure? Do you think, oh, I would love to plan a weekend at a resort? Or are you thinking, ooh, I'd like to plan a weekend to go camping. One is very comfortable, one is more adventurous. Depending on what the rest of your life looks like, comfort or adventure might be more appealing to you. One thing that is very nice about designing your summer is that it is finite. And I think sometimes it is fun to plan something where you feel like, okay, I'm going to be doing this for three months and it's gonna begin and end within a fairly short frame of time. It's long enough for real things to happen, but it's not as long as forever, and it's not even as long as a year for Me, I go from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That's what my summer is. Some people might think it's June, July, August. Other people might feel like there's a different definition of what summer is. But you wanna think about, well, what is that end date. I've heard so many great suggestions from people about what they've done to design their summer, to make their summer feel rich. Some people say, oh, instead of having my breakfast at the breakfast table, I take my breakfast and my cup of coffee outside and eat it on our back porch and just take advantage of the weather. Other people make sure that they watch the sunset once a week. Other people explore hikes in their neighborhood. I know somebody who decided that she was gonna visit every park in her little town. I talked to somebody who decided that she was gonna visit every park in her little city over the summer because there were a lot of summertime activities that were going on. And also, just going to the park seemed like a summertime thing to do. And she'd always wanted to see every park around her. So use your imagination as you do it. You wanna plan ahead for the inevitable disruptions that will happen and safeguard the habits you've already been building. This is important. You do not want to use this time to backslide. You do not want the summertime to halt your progress. So how can you safeguard? Okay, the first thing to do is to use if, then planning. If, then planning is, you say, if something happens, then I will do that. If, then planning is extremely useful because in a cold, calm, rational frame of mind, we think, well, what would I do if I were traveling? Or what would I do if I got a migraine? If this happens, then I will do that. And that way, when the occasion actually arises, we're much more likely to follow along with the plan that we've already made instead of acting impulsively in the moment. So if you're summer specific, if then challenges might look something like, if a friend invites me on a spontaneous adventure, then I will reduce my daily writing practice to 15 minutes. You can also make planned exceptions. A planned exception is exactly what it sounds like it is when you plan an exception. A planned exception is when you decide in advance that whatever habit you have, you are going to not follow it under a very specific and limited circumstance. You think about it in advance, and then you follow through. You do not decide impulsively in the moment. That is the difference with planned exceptions, and they are exceptions. So this isn't something that lasts for a week or a month or indefinitely. This is like a one day thing. For instance, you might say to yourself, I will go for a daily run except if the weather is over 95 degrees, in which case I will do yoga, in which case I will do a cardio workout in my basement. You've planned in advance for what the exception will be and it's limited to a specific circumstance. And as you're making a planned exception, it may help to ask yourself how you'll feel after making this exception to your habit. If you don't go for a run in 95 degree heat, I think you would look back on that and think that was a good choice. I didn't want to be running when it was 95 degrees outside. If you impulsively decided, oh, I'm going to skip my daily run because I don't feel like it today, you probably would not look back on that exception with pleasure. It wasn't planned, it was impulsive and you really weren't keeping the habit that you were asking of from yourself. So your action step for this week is to think about how you want to adjust for the summertime, whether that means adjusting your habit, adding a seasonal habit or setting up safeguards, and make a plan to do so.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Coming up, Gretchen answers questions from listeners about everything from staying motivated to handling major life changes. But first, this break.

[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

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[Gretchen Rubin]

in portion of this episode, a participant asks, how should I celebrate making it to the halfway point mostly successfully? That is fantastic. You have made it to the halfway point mostly successfully. That is something to celebrate. Ask yourself what would make it feel meaningful to you? And I would say, remember, you don't want to give yourself a reward because rewards often undermine habits. But you could think about whether at this point there might be a new tool that you realize that you need that would make whatever it is that you're doing easier or more pleasant. So maybe you have a yoga mat that has seen better days and you decide, okay, it's time to get a new yoga mat. Or maybe you want to get a new pair of running shoes because you feel like your running shoes are kind of worn through. Or a new pair of socks. That might be a nice way to market. But remember, you're giving yourself something that is taking you deeper into your habit. Not undermining your habit. Also just telling yourself, look what I've done. I mean, really look back. Think about how far you've come, how much you've done, how good you feel. One of the ways to keep ourselves going is just literally to enjoy the good feeling of having done it. But you don't want to start falling into the moral licensing loophole. Which is when we start thinking, well, I've been so good, I deserve some time off. The fact that you've been so good should energize you to keep going. Even better. But definitely ask yourself for whatever kind of person you are, what is something that would really make you feel like you are celebrating hitting the halfway point? Our second question is from a listener who is wondering how to reset her approach to forming a habit.

[Listener]

Between my full time job, my daughter's senior year activities, my college age son who lives at home, his needs, my husband's desire for some attention, and all of my at home responsibilities, there is little or no time or energy left for me. I'm five months into this project and I haven't made any changes or progress. Can you suggest how to reset and find the time for myself?

[Gretchen Rubin]

This is really hard because this listener has immense responsibilities and time and energy are limited. That is just the fact. But hearing this description, I have to think, I wonder if this person is an obliger and has not created outer accountability. Because whenever someone says I can't find time for myself, whenever they say everybody else needs so much, there's nothing left for me, that makes me think obliger. And it makes me think there hasn't been outer accountability created because with the other three upholders, questioners and rebels, if they were feeling this pressure, which they very well might because it is real pressure, we've all been there where there is so little time, energy left over, they express it differently. And the fact is, and obligers, often it's hard for them to really understand there must be outer accountability even for something you want to do, even for something you enjoy doing, even for something that is very, very important to you, you must create a system of outer accountability that is essential. And so look around and say maybe you need two or three or four kinds of outer accountability even for just the one or two hero habits that you're working on. Give yourself that accountability. Maybe in some way you're paying for it. Maybe in some way other people are depending on you to follow through. Maybe in some way you are a role model for other people, even a role model for the idea that I am going to show you what it looks like for someone to commit to a habit change and stick to it. That's a very powerful thing for other people to witness. But I don't want to minimize the fact that time and energy are precious. I will also note that you may have more time than you think. Maybe not, because sometimes people really are stretched very, very, very thin. But my friend Laura Vanderkam is a time use exper and one thing that she writes about a lot is the idea that we often have more time than we think, that people really don't understand how pockets of time aren't being used in the way that serves us best. And she is a big proponent of

[Guest/Contributor]

time tracking, which is really taking a week or two weeks and tracking every half hour. What are you doing?

[Gretchen Rubin]

How are you spending your time?

[Guest/Contributor]

And from her observation and experience, many, many, many people discovered that they do have more time for whatever it is that they want to do than they think. And depending on what kind of habit that you're trying to form, you may not need actually that many minutes and that much energy on a daily or weekly basis in order to move forward with your habit. So be honest with yourself about what you really need. Track your time to see if there's time that you're spending in ways that are not top priority. Like are you spending a lot of time watching sports on TV where you don't really need to do that, or are you doing chores that are really other people's responsibilities, but it's really just easier for you to do it rather than badgering them to do it? Look for ways to use that time in the way that is right for you. And I suspect that you need utter accountability. And then finally, this participant wrote in to ask about adjusting habits to accommodate a major life challenge.

[Gretchen Rubin]

My partner and I are unexpectedly facing a major life challenge that will be at the center of our lives for the next year or so. I don't want to lose the momentum I've built with my habit this year, but I know there will be days when it just won't be possible to follow through in the way I've been doing. I know my partner is glad to see my progress and wants me to find a way to continue too. What's the best approach here? Do it less often. Do it for less time each day, but still do it daily. Call this a season of sacrifice and stop doing it until our current situation is resolved, this is a major challenge. We've all had periods like this and this is very thoughtful response. These are all interesting responses. I would say from my observation that I would do it for myself and it's different. Again, I don't wanna speak for everyone, so I think it's best to just do it for less time and do it daily. If that is just impossible and you do feel like, this needs to be a season of sacrifice. I would urge you to pick a date where you will start again and say, like on Monday, August 1st, that's when I will start again. Or whatever the day might be, put it in your calendar and then just start again. And if for some reason you absolutely cannot start on that date, if things maybe have gotten worse and you're even less able to do it, you want to pick another date. You don't want to just say to yourself, when things calm down or when this is over, you want to have a specific date. So you're essentially putting yourself on an extended planned exception. You want to make sure when you're going to reengage. But again, I think it's better to do it every day and just keep that habit going. It's hard to get a habit going. Keep it going and good luck with your major life challenge.

[Elizabeth Craft]

Okay, Gretch, what is our spotlight on a tool this week?

[Gretchen Rubin]

This week we're spotlighting the Design youn Summer tool in the Happier app. With Halfway day coming up, a lot of people are thinking about habits they'd like to strengthen in the second half of the year. And one thing I like about Design youn Summer is that it can help you make those intentions more concrete.

[Elizabeth Craft]

How does it do that?

[Gretchen Rubin]

Well, if you want to read more, you can use the summer queue to create a reading list and then get the satisfaction of checking off each book as you finish it. Or if you want to have more fun this summer, you can add ideas to your bucket list so they're more likely to happen.

[Elizabeth Craft]

I do love checking things off a list.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Oh, me too. You can choose the summer theme, build your bucket list, create a reading queue, and more. Download the happier [e-mail] well, now as

[Elizabeth Craft]

always, I want to go add a few books to my summer queue.

[Gretchen Rubin]

That's excellent. So, Elizabeth, are you feeling happier?

[Elizabeth Craft]

Yes, I am feeling happier. Thank you to Chuck. Bye, Gretch.

[Gretchen Rubin]

Bye, Elizabeth. The best time to start a happiness project is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

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