Podcast Summary: Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Episode: More Happier: For Travel, Familiarity or Novelty? Plus a Flossing Hack & the Pleasure of Routine
Release Date: September 20, 2025
Hosts: Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft

Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Gretchen and Elizabeth explore the tension between novelty and familiarity—especially when returning to their hometown. They reflect on the joys and challenges of routines versus trying new things, share a surprisingly enjoyable flossing hack, and discuss the pleasure of setting (and sticking to) ambitious goals. The conversation is a blend of personal anecdotes, practical advice, and the sisters' trademark humor and honesty.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What's Making Us Happier This Week?

Elizabeth's Commitment to Orange Theory

• Elizabeth is happy about increasing her Orange Theory Fitness visits from two to three times a week to meet her goal of 100 classes for the year.
• She shares how tracking and aiming for a specific number boosts her motivation, a strategy aligned with her "obliger" tendency (03:09).
  • “I did a hundred hikes at Priming Canyon last year and I made my number and it felt so good. So now I want to feel that same gratification this year.” – Elizabeth (03:11)
• Routines are sometimes hard to schedule, but commitment makes it easier:
  • “Knowing I have to do it makes it easier, if that makes sense. Right. Committing in my mind to doing it makes it easier to go.” – Elizabeth (04:12)
• Acknowledges the flexibility and unpredictability in her weekly scheduling.

Gretchen's Joy in Routine

• Gretchen thrives on habit and routine. While she enjoys the novelty of summer, she feels relief and satisfaction at returning to predictable routines in the fall.
  • “I do really thrive on predictability and familiarity… settling back into routine.” – Gretchen (05:57)
• The end of summer and return to routine feels like a “fresh start.”
• She notes her new puppy, Taffy, has both disrupted and become part of her routine.

2. Travel: Familiarity vs. Novelty

Visiting Their Hometown (Kansas City): Tradition Versus Exploring

• Gretchen asks Elizabeth about her approach: stick to old favorites or try new things while visiting home?
  • Gretchen prefers the familiar—Winstead’s, walks, favorite stores and parks.
  • Elizabeth enjoys a mix: she repeats traditions (like Winstead’s on arrival) but actively seeks out new stores and restaurants, often influenced by tips from their mom or siblings (11:13-12:01).
  • New traditions can emerge from trying new things (e.g., TopGolf and escape rooms) (12:32, 13:04).
• The experience of visiting at different times of the year also offers fresh perspectives (14:08), like visiting in spring and seeing the nostalgic plaza bunnies.
  • “Seeing it at a different time… a thousand memories came rushing back, but I’d forgotten that I remembered them until I saw them.” – Gretchen (14:44)
• The research: novelty enhances happiness and makes time feel richer, though there is also pleasure in revisiting old favorites (15:21).
• Striking a balance: maintain beloved routines but allow for the “new” to keep experiences dynamic and vivid.
  • “If you never try new things, then you never add anything.” – Gretchen (12:59)
  • “You may do something, love it, and then want to add it to your routine. So it's worth trying.” – Elizabeth (16:41)

3. Tool Spotlight: The Four Tendencies (and Habits Check-In)

• Gretchen marks the 8th anniversary of her book The Four Tendencies (17:04), which helps people identify how they respond to expectations and thus, how best to establish habits.
• Advice: use the final months of the year to reflect on your goals and consider how your tendency (Obliger, Upholder, Questioner, Rebel) can help you achieve them (17:52).
  • “It's really a great time to check in on what you want to accomplish for 2025… the book is really meant to be a toolkit.” – Gretchen (17:52)
• Listeners are encouraged to take the Four Tendencies quiz on Gretchen’s website.

4. Flossing Hack: Making Unpleasant Habits More Palatable

• Elizabeth has long struggled with consistent flossing, citing “subpar gums.”
• A turning point: she gets a toothbrush/water flosser combo after her friend Sarah (an "overbuyer") recommends it—surprisingly, it makes flossing more doable (21:31-22:22).
  • “I'll tell you what's good about having an overbuyer in your life. They find some really fantastic things... She was 100% right.” – Elizabeth (22:05)
• Gretchen highlights new research: interdental brushes and similar devices may be as good as (or better than) floss for some people (23:57-24:22).
  • “The best thing to do is the thing you actually do.” – Gretchen (24:22)
• Practical tip: try different flossing devices, like Gum Soft Picks, flavored floss, or interdental brushes—whatever you’ll stick with.
• Humor about the awkwardness of flossing language:
  • “I wish that there was a word alternative to pick. I just. I hate the word pick.” – Elizabeth (26:00)
• Motivation—keep the teeth you want to use!

5. Notable Quote of the Week

“This is a very thought provoking line…from the memoir Lab Girl by Hope Jahren:
‘Pretending that things are true is often more fun than knowing they are false.’”
— Gretchen (27:52)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Routines:
  • “You could probably never go on a vacation again. And you like how it makes you grow to just, you know, leave your element... but you are not someone who's like, I'm just craving to get on a plane and go somewhere.” – Elizabeth (07:41)
• On Trying New Things:
  • “It makes our hometown stay new and dynamic, not just…a relic on the shelf. It’s an evolving, changing place.” – Elizabeth (13:17)
• On Flossing:
  • “About one third of Americans actually floss…which is the same thing they say about exercise...the best thing to do is the thing you actually do.” – Gretchen (24:22)
  • “I find it actually enjoyable to use these things because it's more like picking your teeth, which I hate to say, but I find it enjoyable...” – Gretchen (25:19)
• On Balancing Familiarity and Novelty:
  • “I want to go to Winstead’s and…I have these things that I want to do every time. But you’re right, then it gets stale. And then it also might start to feel like it’s getting diminished because some of these things go away. And if you don’t add new things, then you’re right. You don’t have a sense of being connected to the vitality of the city.” – Gretchen (13:29)
• On Habits:
  • “Thinking about your tendency can really be a useful way to figure out what’s standing in your way and what will help you finish strong.” – Gretchen (17:52)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------| | 02:21 | Elizabeth's Orange Theory habit and the power of “the number” | | 05:57 | Gretchen on the comfort of routine and post-summer reset | | 11:13 | Elizabeth's approach to hometown travel: mixing old and new | | 15:21 | Research: novelty versus familiarity in happiness | | 17:04 | The Four Tendencies and year-end goal setting | | 21:31 | Flossing struggles—and the water flosser hack | | 24:22 | Gretchen on dental health and finding the best personal flossing routine | | 27:52 | Quote of the week from Lab Girl |

Tone & Style

The episode is warm, candid, and gently humorous, with the hosts sharing both relatable challenges and small triumphs. Gretchen’s practical, research-based insights are balanced by Elizabeth’s storytelling and real-life “guinea pig” approach.

Takeaways for Listeners

• Embrace both routine and novelty: traditions are grounding, but new experiences renew and enrich even familiar places.
• Setting a quantifiable goal can create motivating accountability, especially for “obligers.”
• Find habit tools and routines tailored to your unique personality and preferences.
• For unappealing but important habits (like flossing), experimentation and the right equipment (or word!) can make it easier—and sometimes even enjoyable.

Quote of the Episode:
“Pretending that things are true is often more fun than knowing they are false.”
—Hope Jahren, Lab Girl (27:52)

For more tools, quizzes, and resources, visit GretchenRubin.com or tune in to future episodes of Happier.