BETTER THAN BEFORE

Gretchen Rubin is tackling habits next. Before and After explores the work it takes to foster good habits and break bad ones. This narrative account of Rubin's investigation into how we really make or break habits also applies strategies distilled from her research to both herself and her "recruits" to help shape habits for success- by understanding our individual natures.

Most people fall victim to their own efforts and fatigue from trying and failing at making good habits. Rubin has found that with the right approach and set of strategies, you can make a habit and then can take your foot off the gas and rely on cruise control. Going to the gym requires no more thought than brushing your teeth—that’s the “after” we all want to achieve. As we know, there have been many books published on the subject of habit, but none of them actually take Rubin’s approach of road testing the existing science and conventional wisdom and clearly identifying how you make a good habit or break a bad one. By using her trademark blend of research and personal experimentation, Rubin will put all of to work road testing what really works.

Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the blockbuster #1New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill and Forty Ways to Look at JFK. She is a columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine, with a circulation of roughly 6 million, in which she writes about happiness each month. Her daily blog, www.happiness-project.com, ranks in the prestigious Technorati “Top 5K” and has nearly 500,000 readers a month. Rubin started her career in law, and she was clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she really wanted to be a writer. Raised in Kansas city, she lives in New York City with her husband and two young daughters.