Better Than Before by Gretchen Ruben

[Zahra_Jafri]

I have read Gretchen Ruben's other two books (Happier at Home and The Happiness project) and found them light and enjoyable, I like her writing style, fresh, witty, modern, and was kinda looking forward to reading Better Than Before (I made my brother and his wife gift it to me on my birthday, March 1st) . It's more like a study of habits or research work on habit formation ('habit formation framework' as she calls it) she has done on family and friends, her personal journey to self discovery. "Self Knowledge" that she insists is the key to "habit formation" ("are you an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel, are you a morning or a night person, are you an abstainer or moderator, do you love simplicity or abundance?") followed by statements like (throughout the book) "this strategy might or might not work for everyone", "different solutions for different people", even when she is trying to help one, specific ,"self-recognized" group of readers! Found it so annoying, she ends the book on the "conclusion", "we can build our habits only on the foundation of our nature" DUH!! And "my study of habits has me less judge mental but also more opinionated", um excuse me?!!