06 July 2011

The Happiness Project


I expect The Happiness Project, a bestselling book and a fantastically useful website, will be familiar to many fellow bloggers and blog readers. The book is a memoir of Gretchen Rubin's year spent trying to find ways of making herself happier and improving her life, and the website follows on from that year. 

I heard about the book a while back and it was on my Amazon wishlist for ages until I received it for my birthday. I started reading it last Friday and am already nearing the end! Right from the outset I could identify with many aspects of the authors personality and the whole scientific, rational approach to happiness really appealed. I love a good project and challenge so started to think that I could create my own similar happiness project for this year. After all, with my 30 before 30 project already underway, it's like I've already started it - just not officially. I've always found it difficult to make changes in my life unless I have a real reason or a goal behind them, and having a structured project for the year to get happier seems perfect.

Gretchen's Happiness Project consisted of evaluating her life, creating a list of personal commandments and goals, identifying the areas that needed improvement and then dedicating a month to each area. At the moment my head is full to bursting with ideas I could incorporate and things I want to do and change, so I need to calm it down and work out a proper plan. I've got a little ideas notebook already and hope to work out the finer details of my Happiness Project over the weekend.

If anyone else would like to join me then please get in touch! I'm aiming to post some details on my blog, although nothing too personal, so we can share our experiences together.

I do recommend getting a copy of the book if you are at all interested, even if you don't start your own Project right away. If you are a fan of self-help books and lifestories anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Read it. Loved it! Attempted to do my own Happiness Project. That was one of the main kicks that really got me to focus on my shop actually. But alas, I stopped. For me it became less of a journey and more of a checklist and I felt it was counterproductive to what Rubin was trying to teach. Maybe I'll start it up again someday. Good luck with yours! I hope it helps your happiness soar! :-D

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