Top 20 Takeaways From Harvard’s Managing Happiness Course

In 2018, I took Yale’s Most Popular Course in History and wrote about it.

I’m a lifelong learner who thinks online learning is one of the best developments in recent history. This post highlight a similar course, Harvard’s Managing Happiness, that I recently completed.

Harvard 2011

Top 20 Takeaways

1Humans spend 30–50% of their time daydreaming about the future — your brain is always looking for the next thing to see, experience, or acquire (prospection).

2Recognize your most catastrophic thoughts and argue against them — put them in perspective, and be conscious of the worst possible outcome; the best possible outcome is more likely, but plan for the most likely outcome.

3Pessimism brings stagnation; optimism brings progress.

4Short-term decisions optimize happiness — long-term decisions optimize meaning.

5You’re only as happy as your least happy child. (This one reminds me of that quote, “The duty of a parent is to not accept anything less than the life you would want for your children.”)

6Don’t look for the trivial or immediate — go BIG — be ambitious with your own purpose, significance, and ability to serve others, and…