Kari and friends sit down for the February Book Club book report on Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits—to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin. Serena Marie, RD, talks about how the four tendencies in Rubin’s book help drive the food choices that we make. Also, Serena Marie and Kari do a Side Stitch by Ginny headband product review.
Jabra Jiven’
Jabra, a TRLS show sponsor, is giving away a pair of Pulse earbuds in March, so sprint over to Jabra.com/TRL and sign up for the TRLS e-mail list at therunninglifestyle.com/join to enter to win. This month’s winner will also receive an amazing thirty-­minute exclusive Skype call with Kari. She loves the Pulse model because the sound quality is amazing, there are five different ear settings/fits, and she can do heart rate training as well.
Featured Guests: The Book Club Gang
Kari, go-to, real-food dietitian Serena Marie, RD, #1 TRLS fan Tracy Slayton (featured on “Seven Disney Race Reviews with a Father–Daughter Duo,” which was Episode 119), and Foti Panagakos (featured on “Chicago Marathon Recap w/Jeff Galloway & Team TRLS,” which was Episode 98 and who represents one of the TRLS Chicago team members who ran and raised funds and awareness for Action for Healthy Kids) all join forces to discuss the February Book Club pick.

There are four different tendencies of people, and one of each is represented in today’s episode. Take the quiz here.
Understand yourself and how you’re wired, and in return you can understand others more and you may be more understanding of others.
#1: The Upholder (Foti)—someone who doesn’t need outside accountability, he or she makes goals, sticks to them, and achieves them

Foti read Gretchen’s first book (The Happiness Project) and this particular title, and he knew almost right away what he was based on the criteria and the characteristics.
He’s very self-directed, and he likes to have goals in mind (deadlines, required obligations to finish).
He doesn’t finish early often, and he enjoys in some respects being under a little pressure (which he’s been trying to work on).
He believes in rules (they’re there for a reason) and likes to follow them; for example, he dislikes when someone turns in a car and doesn’t use the turn signal. If we can’t obey simple rules, then why do we have them?


#2: The Questioner (Kari)—someone who asks “Who are you to tell me this?”

This type of person doesn’t like to stand in line and can have tendencies toward one of two ways—to an Upholder or to a Rebel personality.
Kari was surprised when she took the quiz that she became a Questioner.
A Questioner can question authority, research, data, and so on, and many people don’t like to be questioned.
The downside is analysis paralysis. The way to overcome that is to go to three sources and make an informed decision.


#3: The Obliger (Tracy)—someone who is a people pleasure

Tracy was a little surprised that she was an Obliger, because she thought she would be an Upholder.
This is someone who has a hard time meeting internal expectations, but doesn't struggle at all to meet external expectations. They can break promises to themselves, but have no trouble keeping promises to others.
This is the only tendency type who is typically unhappy with what their tendency is.
Obligers excel at work because they are reliable and dependable.
One downside is not having enough time for themselves and sometimes that causes resentment toward others.
It’s hard for Obligers to say no to others. They tend to be sensitive to seeking others’ approval.
There’s something called Obliger rebellion where they’ll meet expectations over and over and then all of a sudden it’s either a small or big act where they just stop meeting expectations and it’s usually symbolic


#4: The Rebel (Serena)—someone who resists inner and outer expectations

No one has control of them including themselves.
One negative of this is that Rebels