I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier. This video is brought to you by The Happiness Project.

The book that I wrote that got me started down my long road to happiness.

I can't resist mentioning that Happiness Project was a number one New York Times bestseller

and was on the bestseller list for two years. If you want to learn more about it,

go to my website GretchenRubin.com.

Last week I talked about some advice that I got indirectly from my law school roommate's ex-boyfriend

about how to be successful. One thing he said was successful people are willing to do things

that unsuccessful people are not willing to do. But there was another piece of helpful advice

that he gave and that was to try to check every box. His argument was that whenever we're trying

to apply for something, whenever we're trying to get a job or we're applying to graduate school

or whatever it might be, that the people making the decision have a list of the criteria that

they're looking for. It might be a literal list, it might be a figurative list, but they have a

list of the things that they're looking for. What he said was try to check every box. Think ahead

what is on the list that those decision-makers are considering and try to make yourself the inevitable

choice, try to make yourself the easy choice by checking off as many boxes as you can. His argument

is that people don't like to take risks and so the more boxes you check off, the easier it will

be for them to choose you. Now this doesn't sound like very subtle advice, but I've actually found

as the years have gone by that it's really helpful to think about what would be the list

that these people who are making the decision would be considering and how do I start now to do

the things that will allow me to check every box to make myself the default choice. Try to check

every box. I'm Gretchen Reuben and I hope this makes your week a little happier.