Business Book Review: Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Better Than Before is your guide to how ordinary choices can lead to extraordinary results in your ‘before and after’ story. 

My Rating: ★★★★
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Two Roads
Released: 2016

Key Takeaways for Personal Branding

Best-selling author Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before takes a remarkably relatable look at the breaking and making of habits. Whatever your goal, it’s the small steps toward a better life that matter. The book is borne from Rubin’s lifelong obsession with all things ‘before and after’. The stories of transformation. 

The Strategy of Scheduling

Like the best habit specialists advocate for, Rubin argues that what you do daily matters more than what you do once in a while. And it’s the scheduling of the daily habit that removes the decision fatigue and resistance to doing the habit. Rubin describes her personal experience of doing something daily as actually being easier than doing something less often:

“Scheduling is an invaluable tool for habit formation; it helps eliminate decision making; it helps make the most of our limited self-command; it helps us fight procrastination.”

This can apply to all things from work to workout goals. But, in Rubin’s signature sentimental style, she shares that her daily gratitude practice is taking a photo of something she’s grateful for every day. Unlike the typical daily gratitude diary suggestion, it’s a daily gratitude photo.  

A Clean Slate

For when to start a new habit, Rubin proposes attaching it to a natural clean slate: 

“Any beginning is a time of special power of habit creation, and at certain times we experience a clean slate. In which circumstances change in a way that makes a fresh start possible - if we’re alert for the opportunity.”

The key is becoming aware of the opportunity. There are more chances for a clean slate than you may initially realise. Most use the New Year and their birthdays for clean slates, but Rubin provides more suggestions, including: 

• A change in personal relationships: marriage, divorce, a baby, a new puppy, a breakup, a new friend or death

• A change in surroundings: A new apartment, a new city and a new furniture arrangement

• A life change: New job, new school or even a new doctor

One study shares the power of moving home. It showed that of people trying to make a change in career, education, relationships or addictive behaviours, 36 per cent of successful changes were associated with a move into a new home. 

A Treats Menu 

Rubin’s ‘Strategy of Treats’ is a pleasant addition to the otherwise potential rigidity of habit discussions. Rubin proposes consciously integrating treats - or for her personally, ‘a menu of healthy treats’. Unlike a ‘reward’ which is based on a stick and carrot - an extrinsic motivation system, the treat is ‘just because’ you want it. And you don’t have to be “good” to earn it:

“Treats” may sound like a self-indulgent, frivolous strategy, but it’s not. Because forming good habits can be draining, treats can play an important role. When we give ourselves treats, we feel energised, cared for, and contented, which boosts our self-command, and self-command helps us maintain our healthy habits.”

From listening to your favourite podcast to taking a bath, a ‘treat’ is whatever you decide to call a ‘treat’. It’s about being conscious of something you really enjoy. 

In typical Rubin style, the discussion of habits in Better Than Before is backed by research but not self-righteousness. For much of the book, the examples used are so relatable, so ordinary, so everyday that it’s hard to believe other people feel the same way about most everyday tasks as you might. But extraordinary things happen in the ordinary. 

Better Than Before is an enjoyable read on how to put joy into little everyday things that compound into impactful results. It’s the guide for your personal transformation from before to after. 

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin:  Available on Amazon.