Reading recommendation: Better than Before.

I’ve read a lot about change and habits, primarily dense academic journal articles (I recently completed a Masters in Learning and Organizational Change at Northwestern University). Even though I no longer have a syllabus guiding my reading, I find myself drawn to books on this topic, and just finished the newest entry in this category, Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin.

Rubin gives a clear overview of much of the recent research into habit formation, and overlays this with a number of constructs that I found helpful. She suggests that most people fall into one of four types of habit-makers/rule followers, and presents strategies to help each successfully build new habits: Upholders (who follow rules because they’re RULES and people are supposed to follow the rules), Questioners (who follow rules if they’ve validated the rationale behind the rule), Obligers (who follow rules if someone else is depending on them to follow the rule) and Rebels (who follow rules only when they want to follow the rule). While breaking the world into four castes seems like something from a YA novel, these groupings resonated with me (and I’m very much a Questioner).

She presents a number of other simple (and perhaps simplistic) dichotomies to help understand why some strategies may help your best friend stick to her resolutions, but not work for you. I found myself playing along as she divided the world into simplicity lovers vs. abundance lovers, overshoppers vs. undershoppers, sprinters vs. marathoners, finishers vs. openers…, and seeing how understanding these tendencies could not only help me figure out how to be more successful in my own self-improvement, but could also help me as I work with my clients to plan for organizational changes.

I would suggest this to anyone who is interested in gaining insights into how people form habits. The insights Rubin provides make this book a worthwhile read for those who have already read The Power of Habit, Nudge or Switch.