Little Happier: When Do We Say “I’m Finished” and When Do We Say “I Can Still Make It Better?”

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Lemonada Media

Self-improvement, Education, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A story from the life of writer Shirley Hazzard illustrates the conundrum: When do we think, “It can still be better,” and when do we decide, “It’s finished?” Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com Follow on social media: @GretchenRubin on YouTube @GretchenRubin on TikTok @GretchenRubin on Instagram @GretchenRubin on Threads Get the podcast show notes by email every week: happiercast.com/shownotes Get Gretchen Rubin’s newest book Life in Five Senses to see how she discovered a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. Now available - order here. Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app. Happier with Gretchen Rubin is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts— Side Hustle School, Happier in Hollywood and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What do I do?
0:01.2	What do I do?
0:02.4	What do I say?
0:03.6	What do I say?
0:30.0	I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.
0:34.2	The opposite of a profound truth is also true.
0:39.4	Whenever we're creating something, an important report, a novel, a holiday newsletter, we face
0:45.8	a crucial question that can be very hard to answer.
0:50.6	When is something finished?
0:53.8	When do you stop?
0:55.3	When do you say I'm done?
0:57.6	How do you know you've done your best?
1:00.9	I love to find ways to cut, polish, tighten, find a better example or a fresher metaphor.
1:08.6	Check for accuracy, add more humor, strike a more profound note to make my work as good
1:14.8	as I can possibly make it.
1:17.6	At some point, however, as I'm tinkering away, I begin to realize that I've entered the
1:23.0	stage that's often referred to as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, meaning I'm
1:30.6	making inconsequential changes that have nothing to do with the ultimate fate of my project.
1:37.0	At that point, I need to let go.
1:40.4	One of the most important steps in creating something is being willing to write the end
1:46.3	and finish.
1:48.5	It's a tough question.
	...

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