书名：Better Than Before 比从前更好
作者：Gretchen Rubin格雷琴•鲁宾
出版社名称：Random House
出版时间：2015
语种：英语 
ISBN：9780804188951
商品尺寸：17.5 x 3 x 10.9 cm
包装：平装
页数：464（以实物为准）

在现代快节奏的生活中，很多人都备感压力，也希望能够改变自己目前的生活状态，拥有更好的生活。而改变的关键，就在于习惯。习惯蕴含着巨大的力量，习惯能够改变你的行为，影响你的生活态度，从而决定你的人生路。

著名的畅销书作家格雷琴•鲁宾在这本《比从前更好》中，为我们指出了改变习惯的明路。首先，我们要加深自我认知，清楚自己的性格倾向，再制定适合自己的习惯解决方案。通过管理习惯、培养基础习惯、制定日程表、增强责任感等四大策略，逐步养成好习惯，摒弃坏习惯。之后，再通过细节强化这些好习惯，彻底改变自己的行为模式，让自己变得更健康、更乐观，更有力量追求自己的人生目标。

格雷琴•鲁宾是习惯研究方面的专家。本书自出版以来，一直位列美国亚马逊畅销书榜单，具有极强的可读性和实践性，相信每位读者都能从中得到启发和帮助。

New York Times Bestseller | Washington Post Bestseller
The author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, tackles the critical question: How do we change?
 
Gretchen Rubin's answer: through habits. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.
 
So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits?
 
Better than Before answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good. Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better than Before explains the (sometimes counter-intuitive) core principles of habit formation.
 
Along the way, Rubin uses herself as guinea pig, tests her theories on family and friends, and answers readers’ most pressing questions—oddly, questions that other writers and researchers tend to ignore:

• Why do I find it tough to create a habit for something I love to do?
• Sometimes I can change a habit overnight, and sometimes I can’t change a habit, no matter how hard I try. Why?
• How quickly can I change a habit?
• What can I do to make sure I stick to a new habit?
• How can I help someone else change a habit?
• Why can I keep habits that benefit others, but can’t make habits that are just for me?

Whether readers want to get more sleep, stop checking their devices, maintain a healthy weight, or finish an important project, habits make change possible. Reading just a few chapters of Better Than Before will make readers eager to start work on their own habits—even before they’ve finished the book.

你有拖延症吗？

你经常失眠吗？

你感到工作永远也做不完？

你时而悲观消极，觉得人生无望吗？

你想改变现在的生活状态，拥有成功、高效的生活吗？

面对生活中的种种困难和挑战，你或许感到精疲力竭，心中也充满了疑惑与迷茫。习惯研究领域中具影响力的畅销书作家格雷琴•鲁宾为我们带来了这部力作。

格雷琴认为，成功的关键在于习惯。只有养成好习惯，才能够帮助我们改变自己的行为，从而提升自己，得到幸福健康的生活。

事实上，我们40%的日常行为是习惯的结果，并不是我们做出的决策导致了行为本身，而是习惯在潜移默化中影响着我们的行为。因此，一旦养成了好习惯，你就可以不费力地让你的好行为持续下去，真正让自己获得快乐成功的人生。

本书为读者提供了极具实践性及可行性的方法，它首先要求我们测试自己内在的的性格特征，继而量身定做，帮助我们找到自己的习惯养成方案，包括不再拖延、及时把握机会、拒绝诱惑、化繁为简等具体方法，从而摒弃以前的坏习惯，重塑好习惯，循序渐进地消除不良行为，在心态及行动上变得更加积极、主动，拥有健康、高效、富足的生活。

格雷琴•鲁宾，毕业于耶鲁大学，拥有法学学位。她曾为美国联邦法院大法官桑德拉•戴•奥康纳担任助理，也曾为美国联邦通信委员会前主席里德•洪特担任顾问。目前她是习惯、幸福研究领域中影响力的专家之一，也是畅销书《The HappinessProject》《Happier at home》的作者。她的著作已被翻译成30多种语言，全球销量已超过数百万册。
Gretchen Rubin, a member of Oprah's SuperSoul 100, is one of the most thought-provoking and influential writers on the linked subjects of habits, happiness, and human nature. She’s the author of many books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Happier at Home and The Happiness Project. Rubin has an enormous following, in print and online; her books have sold more than a million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages, and on her popular daily blog, gretchenrubin.com, she reports on her adventures in pursuit of habits and happiness. Her podcast "Happier with Gretchen Rubin" was an iTunes "Best of 2015" pick. She was chosen for the 2016 Oprah Super Soul 100 list. Rubin started her career in law, and was clerking for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor when she realized she wanted to be a writer. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

A NOTE TO THE READER
Better Than Before tackles the question: How do we change? One answer—by using habits.
Habits are the invisible architecture of daily life. We repeat about 40 percent of our behavior almost daily, so our habits shape our existence, and our future. If we change our habits, we change our lives.

But that observation just raises another question: Okay, then, how do we change our habits? That’s what this book seeks to answer.
But while Better Than Before explores how to change your habits, it won’t tell you what particular habits to form. It won’t tell you to exercise first thing in the morning, or to eat dessert twice a week, or to clear out your office. (Well, actually, there is one area where I do say what habit I think is best. But only one.)

The fact is, no one-size-fits-all solution exists. It’s easy to dream that if we copy the habits of productive, creative people, we’ll win similar success. But we each must cultivate the habits that work for us. Some people do better when they start small; others when they start big. Some people need to be held accountable; some defy account- ability. Some thrive when they give themselves an occasional break from their good habits; others when they never break the chain. No wonder habit formation is so hard.

The most important thing is to know ourselves, and to choose the strategies that work for us.
Before you begin, identify a few habits that you’d like to adopt, or changes you’d like to make. Then, as you read, consider what steps you want to try. You may even want to note today’s date on your book’s flyleaf, so you’ll remember when you began the process of change.
To help you shape your habits, I regularly post suggestions on my blog, and I’ve also created many resources to help you make your life better than before. But I hope that the most compelling inspiration is the book you hold in your hands.

I see habits through the lens of my own experience, so this ac- count is colored by my particular personality and interests. “Well,” you might think, “if everyone forms habits differently, why should I bother to read a book about what someone else did?”

During my study of habits and happiness, I’ve noticed something surprising: I often learn more from one person’s idiosyncratic experiences than I do from scientific studies or philosophical treatises. For this reason, Better Than Before is packed with individual examples of habit changes. You may not be tempted by Nutella, or travel too much for work, or struggle to keep a gratitude journal, but we can all learn from each other.
It’s simple to change habits, but it’s not easy.

I hope that reading Better Than Before will encourage you to harness the power of habits to make change in your own life. Whenever you read this, and wherever you are, you’re in the right place to begin.