An important part of creating the life you want is taking charge of your everyday life. A best-selling author says she’s tapped into the secrets of achieving that.

Gretchen Rubin rose to fame with her wildly successful book, The Happiness Project, but even before she became a household name, she was a huge success. A graduate of Yale Law School, she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor before becoming a writer. She wrote two best-selling biographies of John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill, then reinvented herself as one of the most influential self-help writers in the world.

Her book, Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, is heading toward great success, too.

Gretchen talks to Growing Bolder about the habits that sabotage our lives and how we can break bad habits and create good ones.

One of the key things she wants us all to think about is whether we’re an abstainer or a moderator. Find out why that matters when it comes to our habits. Plus, she shares some simple strategies for getting started and, more importantly, sticking with better habits.

Gretchen is also the host of one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes. Click here to visit her website to listen to her podcasts and to read more from her.