Outer Order, Inner Calm

In my study of happiness, I ve realized that for most of us, outer order contributes to inner calm.
 
More than it should.
 
In the context of a happy life, a messy desk or a crowded coat closet is a trivial problem yet getting control of the stuff of life often makes it easier to feel more in control of our lives generally.
 
When I m surrounded by a mess, I feel restless and unsettled. When I clean up that mess, I m always surprised by the disproportionate energy and cheer I gain, plus I m able to find my keys. A friend once told me, I finally cleaned out my fridge and now I know I can switch careers. I knew exactly what she meant.
 
By getting rid of the things I don t use, don t need, or don t love, as well as the things that don t work, don t fit, or don t suit, I free my mind and my shelves for what I truly value. And that s true for most people.
 
Often, when disorder starts to creep in, I think, I don t have time to fight my way through all this stuff! I m too busy to deal with it! But I ve learned that by managing my possessions, I can improve my emotional attitude, my physical health, my intellectual vigor, and even my social life.
 
Now, no matter how busy I am, I force myself to take at least a few minutes each day to impose some order. If I m feeling overwhelmed by multiple writing deadlines, I spend twenty minutes cleaning my office, because I know that clearing my papers clears my mind.
 
I ve also found that once I start, it s easier to keep going. True, sometimes it feels auspicious to do a big clutter-clearing on New Year s Day, or as spring cleaning, or as pre Labor Day prep but now is always the best time to begin. A friend told me, I woke up one morning and on impulse decided to tackle my basement. I spent my entire Sunday down there, and I was so pumped by the end that I wanted to keep going all night. I got up early on Monday morning just to sit there and gloat. It gave me

Gretchen Rubin is one of today s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She s the author of many books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellersOuter Order, Inner Calm; The Four Tendencies; Better Than Before; and The Happiness Project. She has an enormous readership, both in print and online, and her books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages. On her top-ranking, award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, she explores happiness and good habits. She is also a CBS News contributor, providing weekly solutions for living a happier life. Gretchen Rubin started her career in law and was clerking for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O Connor when she realized that she wanted to be a writer. Raised in Kansas City, she lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Accolades and Praise for GRETCHEN RUBIN
#1 New York Times bestselling author
Member of Oprah s SuperSoul 100
 
Aided by her formidable intelligence and willingness to try anything, she spent a year road-testing every theory about happiness she could get her hands on, using her own life as the road. TIME
 
Once you ve read Gretchen Rubin s tale of a year spent searching for satisfaction, you ll want to start your own happiness project and get your friends and family to join you. This is the rare book that will make you both smile and think often on the same page.  
Daniel H. Pink, Drive
 
Rubin had learned that there was a close correlation between habits and happiness, so she figured out how we form them, use them, and change them. Once I came to understand habits as harnessing our own laziness making a habit frees you from decision-making, which you can use to your advantage my relationship to them changed permanently. The New Yorker
 
Lays out life s essential goals serves as a kind of detailed instruction manual on how to achieve them.  
New York Times Book Review 
 
If anyone can help us stop procrastinating, start exercising or get organized, it s Gretchen Rubin. The happiness guru takes a sledgehammer to old-fashioned notions about change.   Parade

Gretchen Rubin combines deep research and observations from her own life to explain how habits emerge and more important how they can change. It s indispensable for anyone hoping to overhaul how they (almost unthinkingly) behave.
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit
 
Gretchen Rubin is a writer after my own heart seriously brilliant, very warm, and funny. I think she s amazing. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird and Help, Thanks, Wow

Gretchen Rubin s superpower is curiosity Weaving together research, unforgettable examples, and her brilliant insight, Better Than