A Podcast Tells Us 10 Tips to Find Happiness. I Tell Them to Shove It
Gretchen Rubin, host of the podcast Happier With Gretchen Rubin, and author of the 2009 best-selling book, The Happiness Project, clearly knows and talks a lot about happiness. I'm guessing you could even go so far as to say she, herself, is happy. Well, recently Rubin shared her 10 Tips For Getting 'Happier' with MentalFloss, all of which can be achieved in under a minute–supposedly.
Well, I took it upon myself to test each of these theories, and boy did I ever debunk the heck out of happiness!
1. "Make Your Bed."
Working from home, this was an easy happiness tip to test. I just left my office (a desk essentially in my kitchen), walked into my bedroom and made the bed. What happened next wasn't an invigorating feeling of happiness rushing over me, but instead just a cleaner room. Honestly, it was a little frustrating looking back in retrospect knowing the bed would just be unmade within a few hours.
2. "Smell The Roses–Or Something Else Nice."
Okay, little weird about making the bed, but let's try this sniff test out for a little happiness boost. I sit down at my desk to smell the flowers I keep next to my computer only to now realize they're dead. That really wasn't a good feeling and made me feel a little dead inside. Gee whiz!
3. "Follow The 'One-Minute' Rule."
The "one-minute rule" involves not putting off anything that takes less than one minute to accomplish, i.e. responding to texts or emails. Sounds reasonable, but I've got a few texts from my parents sitting right here that I've completely ignored, and I feel great about it!
Essentially, Rubin wants you to make yourself set an alarm to remind yourself it's getting late, and maybe you should go to bed, so you'll be more well rested and less cranky tomorrow. Well, um, sorry, but that's not gonna happen! No, I'm not exclaiming because I was up all last night watching movies, it's because I don't wanna, so there–debunked that one too!
5. "Don't Like A Book? Stop Reading It."
Seems like sound advice coming from Rubin, because why would you continually subject yourself to a subject you don't really enjoy, but I must say, "Not so fast." If we just stop doing everything we don't really like all the time, nobody would ever get anything done, so I say read that book you hate to make yourself a better person! You know what? I'm going to go order Twilight right now and read it cover to cover.
6. "Take One Thing With You."
Rubin suggest, rather than leaving behind large messes in need of a big clean later, take one thing with you every time you leave a room to help declutter things sooner. But, BUT: what if my place is already in order because I don't live like an animal? Aside from the bed, which is now made, so this tip does nothing for me. I'm no happier from it, BTW, so this is also debunked.
Too bad I've been listening to Radiohead (very much not upbeat) the entire time I've been debunking these happiness tips and laughing my booty off in the process. Seems pretty much like happiness to me. Sorry, Rubin.
Rubin informs readers that jumping up and down can provide an energy boost, and maybe get those happiness endorphins flowing. Well, I've been sitting still, other than when she forced me to make the bed, and I feel great. Still laughing my booty off at this entire process.
Okay, fair enough, you should kiss someone you love, and that would theoretically make you feel an inner happiness. But, there's a flaw in this happiness tip: what if a person isn't currently in love and all alone in this world? Way to remind them of that sadness while trying to give them happiness advice, Rubin!
10. "Make Some 'Bright-Line' Rules."
If you're unfamiliar with "Bright-Line" rules, they are essentially rules that cannot be broken, because of the language of them, there is no wiggle room. Rubin gives the example of how her sister doesn't eat dessert, and that's the rule, so she never does. She says with rules like this, you avoid battling with yourself over nothingness.
Um, but hold on: is her sister really happy by withholding dessert from herself, and acting like a strict parent towards herself when she craves it? I think not! Thus, this happiness tip has also been debunked.
CONCLUSION: Ready for my one tip to happiness? Yes, there's just one thing you need to know about finding your inner happiness, but first a much-deserved slow clap to me for debunking all of these tips.
Okay, so, here's the one tip you need for happiness in your life. It takes less than a minute, just like all her tips, but doesn't tell you what to do. Here it is:
"Do Whatever You Want."
Boom! There's no better way to be happy than to do whatever you want (within the laws of society, of course). For me, it was debunking someone else's happiness tips. A bit sick you may think, but it made me happy and laugh. It's really that easy. One tip. Takes an instant, and you're happier because of it.