Name: I took Yale's course on happiness, here's the takeaways
Uploaded: 2025-11-27T16:53:35.000Z
Duration: 6 min 30 s
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I took Yale's free course on happiness called the Science of well Being, and

Adverbs of manner

All the things that we thought would make us happy actually don't.

So the Science of well Being is taught by Dr.

Laurie Santos, who is most known for her very popular podcast, the Happiness Lab.

You can sign up for free and learn all of this yourself.

And actually, I highly recommend that you do it so you can actually integrate the lessons.

Because new studies have come out saying that this course can and does enhance people's sense of well being.

But if you're like, I don't have time for an eight hour plus course course, tiny Asian lady, just hit me with the highlights.

Now, one important caveat to note is that the authors of this course point out this is not a cure all for depression, right?

Or a replacement for psychiatric treatment.

This is just about how to improve your mental health and overall sense of well being.

It is not about overcoming mental illness.

Also, I forgot to mention this in the video.

But if you do not have enough money to cover your basic needs, then none of this really applies.

All of this research is applying to individuals who have enough money to meet their basic needs.

The things we think are gonna make us happy, like all this stuff right here.

Most of the things that we think will make us happy at last only do so briefly and then our baseline of happiness eventually returns.

But that's not entirely bad news, because 40% of our happiness is actually under our control and not determined by genetics.

But our mind's strongest intuitions, how much something is gonna really make us happy or unhappy are very often wrong.

So you can't rely on your big dumb lizard brain.

Our minds also don't think in terms of absolutes.

So what this means is we compare how happy we should be based on our surroundings.

So even if you're making plenty of money, if everyone around you is making substantially more, you're gonna ultimately be unhappy.

We also don't realize that our minds are built to get used to things, which is called hedonic adaptation.

So this is the reason you are constantly shifting the goalpost or moving the milestone of things that you think are going to get you to a state of happiness.

Now, in terms of how to be happier, the course says we want to do a couple of things.

We want to invest in experiences over any kind of material thing.

We want to thwart our hedonic adaptation.

You can do this by savoring really enjoyable moments and grounding in the present.

You can use negative visualization by imagining, well, what if I didn't have this awesome thing?

You can think as if today was your last day.

To increase gratitude, you can also practice gratitude daily and reset your reference points.

This is like looking at what you're actually comparing your life to and sort of resetting that barometer if you're not getting the kind of happiness that you'd like to have.

And they also recommend interrupting consumption.

Taking a break from a good movie or a fun thing will actually make you appreciate coming back to that fun thing more.

And studies have shown that commercial breaks actually increase our enjoyment of shows.

Now, in terms of things that actually make us happy, the science of what makes us happy.

What makes us happy is having signature strengths in a job over money.

So feeling like you are able to utilize your unique strengths, that you are being able to be fulfilled by your job, that you are appreciated and valued.

Flow in a job is better than money because that increases fulfillment and a sense of engagement.

Growth mindset over Having a fixed mindset makes us happy for obvious reasons.

Practicing kindness, social connection time, affluence over money, valuing your free time, more than money.

There's a lot of like greater than moneys on this list.

But also, you know, some of the things we could have guessed, which is mindfulness via meditation, exercise and good sleep.

And finally the course talks about how do you get there, right?

Like what are the implementation steps that you can take to increase your happiness?

Well, they suggest using situational support.

So for instance, if you know you want to have good nutrition, that's a goal of yours, right?

You can take all of this candy and put it in a drawer instead of on your desk.

Cause if it's out of sight, you're more less likely to take that decision.

You can set specific goals and practice goal implementation intentions.

So that's like if it is this time in this place, I will do this behavior.

Getting into the nitty gritty of it, right?

But they also suggest for goal setting implementation to use the whoop method.

So this is Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan, which is an evidence based goal setting strategy where you define a desired outcome, identify potential obstacles, and

then you create a plan to overcome those barriers.

It differs from other goal setting techniques by including a self regulation strategy called mental contrasting.

So mental contrasting encourages you to balance positive thinking about a desired future alongside consideration of the present day obstacles that might be in your way.

You identify a meaningful, challenging and feasible wish or goal outcome.

You imagine the best result or first feeling from accomplishing your wish.

And then you identify obstacles, something inside of you that might be preventing you from accomplishing your wish and then plan which is basically saying okay, if this obstacle happens, then I will insert effective action steps.

There's eight hours of courses in a I don't know what this was six minute video.

Thank you to the partners who supported today's video and today's sponsor.

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