Laurie Santos: The Happiness Professor on the science of well-being

The Art of Excellence

Laurie is a Professor of Psychology at Yale University. In addition to her work on the evolutionary origins of human cognition, Laurie is an expert on the science of happiness and the ways in which our minds lie to us about what makes us happy. Her Yale course, Psychology and the Good Life, teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. The class became Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years. The online version of the class—The Science of Well-Being on Coursera—has attracted more than 4 million students. She was recently voted as one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young minds and was named in Time Magazine as a “Leading Campus Celebrity.” Her podcast, The Happiness Lab, has attracted over 100 million downloads since its launch.

Some interesting insights from this episode:

· Our minds lie to us when it comes to happiness.

· There is the sense of being happy in your life and the sense of being happy with your life.

· Investing in social relationships is the most important thing we can do to improve our happiness.

· If you force yourself to be more social, even if it’s natural to you, you’ll actually experience more positive emotions as a result.

· Beyond social connections, practicing gratitude and helping others are also tools to increase your overall wellbeing.

· There’s a disconnect between the things that we want and the things that we truly enjoy.

· The arrival fallacy is thinking that you’ll be happy once you achieve some goal but that happiness is often fleeting.

· The journey is ultimately much more rewarding than the destination. Learn to enjoy it.

· “Excellence is behaving and developing mindsets in a way that allows you to flourish.”

Show Notes:

Personal website: Dr. Laurie Santos

Podcast: The Happiness Lab

Coursera class: The Science of Well-Being