Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin

Author, Columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a purple blouse, drop earrings, and a delicate necklace, poses against a plain light background.

Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She’s known for her ability to distill and convey complex ideas with humor and clarity, in a way that’s accessible to a wide audience.

She’s been interviewed by Oprah, eaten dinner with Daniel Kahneman, walked arm-in-arm with the Dalai Lama, had her work written up in a medical journal, been the subject of a “The Talk of the Town” piece in The New Yorker magazine, and been an answer on the game show Jeopardy!

She’s the author of many books, including the blockbuster, New York Times bestsellers The Four Tendencies and Better Than Before. Her book The Happiness Project has sold more than one million copies, been published in more than thirty languages, and spent more than two years on The New York Times best seller list, including at #1.

In her books, she draws from cutting-edge science, the wisdom of the ages, lessons from popular culture, and her own experiences to explore how we can make our lives happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative.

4 min
Bestselling author Gretchen Rubin explains that habits are "like the invisible architecture of everyday life," a topic she explores in her new book Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.
2 min
At some point in her sophisticated, adult life, the “Happiness Project” author had to break down and confess her undying love of “Anne of Green Gables.”
3 min
Some people stay cheerful no matter what. Other people want to strangle those people. But optimists work hard on their attitude, says Gretchen Rubin—and the rest of us should take […]
2 min
Whenever we get something we want, we seem to want something else. How can we escape the loop and learn to be content?
2 min
“Happiness” is a mythical destination that remains permanently out of reach. So why not just improve your life one step at a time?
2 min
The “Happiness Project” author on the difference between book writing and blogging, and whether interacting with Internet commenters brightens or darkens her day.
2 min
The “Happiness Project” author describes two frequent mistakes people make in setting goals for themselves.