Hello and welcome to Happier a podcast where we talk about ways to become

happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. This week we'll talk

about ways we can shape our surroundings to shape our behavior.

And we will also share some listeners ideas for holding on to memories of beloved people who have

died. I'm Gretchen Rubin, writer who studies happiness, good habits, the five senses,

secrets of adulthood, all that stuff, human nature. I'm in my little home office in New York City and joining me

today from Los Angeles is my sister Elizabeth Craft and Elizabeth I will be seeing

you very soon in Kansas City. That's me Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer living in

LA and Gretsch we're going to go back to sharing a room. It'll be just like our

trip to England. Exactly, sleep overtime. But before we jump in, we got an interesting response

from a listener after our very special episode 490,

where we had dozens of hacks from listeners

about how to get regular exercise.

Yes, this comes from Sophia.

She says, I would like to add a fitness hack that has changed my life that I

didn't hear on your fantastic recent episode, which is choosing to identify as an athlete.

I discovered how powerful this can be when I decided to sign up for a triathlon and immediately began referring to myself as a triathlete.

This naturally trickled down into all sorts of shifts and language, attitude and habit.

Whenever I exercised, I was no longer just working out, I was

training. It felt like it was for something, not just another drop in the

bottomless exercise bucket. I felt an obligation to train because an athlete doesn't just skip out on practice when they're not in the mood.

I had fun finding an electrolyte mix I loved, optimizing my nutrition for fueling and recovery and eventually began

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