Science of Well-Being Reflection

I participated in the Science of Well Being class from Yale University. It was an online

course that included several lectures about how to be happy in life, what strategies can be used to

get there, and science behind why certain things do or do not make people happy. It was an

interactive course, so I participated by watching the lectures, listening to the questions that

students at Yale had, answering quiz questions that were given throughout each lecture,

answering reflection questions, and completing an activity to practice what was learned. This

was an online course, so it was held in my apartment on my laptop. The length of the course was

a total of 10 hours which I completed.

This experience was very valuable because the course covered topics that will be useful

in the rest of my personal and professional life. It was unlike any other course I have taken prior.

College is very stressful, especially nursing school, and more often than not I am stressed or sad

or anxious and not happy. This course has given me techniques and strategies, some of which I

have never heard of before, that is scientifically supposed to make my life happier. It has

changed some of the goals that I have had set in place for myself for years. For example, I have

focused on furthering my education after nursing school in order to make a higher income.

However, a study was conducted that concluded that any income over $75,000 will not result in a

higher amount of happiness or life satisfaction (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010) meaning that you

can be the same amount of satisfied if you made $80,000 or $150,000. When I become a

seasoned nurse, it is likely that I will be able to make the threshold of $75,000 without furthering

my education. Therefore, I need to make my choices about my future jobs not related to money

but about how well I will thrive in each job and be able to use my ‘signature strengths’ because

this is a better predictor of how satisfied I will be. In addition to this, the two most important
self-care practices that are beneficial for one’s health and happiness is exercise and adequate

sleep. Therefore, I will attempt to make these activities a core part of my personal life.

There are many practices that I have learned that I will be able to apply to my nursing

career. For example, the course discussed this idea of the GI Joe fallacy - how knowing

something is actually not half the battle - and how one needs to put in work instead of just

believing that because you have learned about something you can successfully put it into practice

(Santos, 2018). After I graduate, I know I will have the qualifications to be a nurse. However, I

need to be aware of the fact that my nursing career will still very much be dependent on how

much work and effort I put into my job even though all of the knowledge is there. In addition to

this, there is this idea that those who prioritize time over money are much happier (Santos,

2018). Even though people who are prioritizing free time will consequently make less money

they are more satisfied than people who spend extra hours at the office even though their

paycheck is bigger. I can apply this to my nursing practice by not to pick up an extra shift during

a week that I am already upset. While I would be making more money, the outcome is

counterproductive because I would end up being more unhappy. It makes more sense to take the

day off and enjoy other activities.

I would recommend this experience in the future to anyone. The course points out to

many false beliefs that I know those around me also believe. I think it would be beneficial for

everyone else to be exposed to this information. One of the most common ‘life questions’ I hear

is anyone’s advice on how to be happy. Everyone has their profound opinions about this, but the

class is giving you evidence that these factors and activities truly make a person happier and I

couldn’t imagine anyone that would not want to increase their happiness at least a little bit more.
 References

Kahneman & Deaton (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-

being. PNAS, 107(38), 16489-16493.

Santos, Laurie (2018). The Science of Well-Being. https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-

of-well-being/home/week/1