Happiness crash course

Key lessons from Yale’s Science of Well-Being class

Hi favorite folks,

I recently finished Yale’s excellent Science of Well-Being course, taught by Dr. Laurie Santos, and offered for free through Coursera.

And I’m happy (heh) to report that my well-being has much improved in the two-ish months since I started. When I completed the initial intake survey, my happiness was around a 5.88 (on a 1 to 10 scale), and when I finished the course, it was 8.8.

That’s three whole data points! 

I highly recommend the course. It’s extremely accessible (basic even, #noshade. Basic is great for busy folks) and highly actionable—because, of course, you can know everything there is to know about how to be happier but if you don’t actually apply that knowledge, then it’s not going to help you.

If you’re curious what’s in the class, here’s a basic (see!?) summary of the course’s main ideas/takeaways. With probably too many links to the science (studies/papers/books) from the course backing the ideas up.

First things first, what doesn’t make us happy

• Having a high…