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  • Good Life Engine 2021 - 2022

    Welcome to Good Life Engine!

    Good Life Engine (GLE) is a course that helps students to make a sustainable course change in life by building a personal routine. The course helps students to design, maintain and develop a routine that creates a daily step towards a bigger goal in life. 

    During the course, you will be attending monthly sessions where you have the chance to meet and discuss with experts in a variety of fields to improve your routine journey. 


    Changing world

    It all started with the realization that the world around us changes very fast, and we constantly need to adapt to new ways of thinking, lifestyles, and daily routines. 

    We may feel very overwhelmed by the changes. In addition to providing a structure for the routine building, Good Life Engine was created to introduce a wide range of well-being and self-development topics that support and encourage people to make daily positive changes. 

     

    Routines - The building blocks of achievements

    It is common nowadays that we are told to be flexible and adaptive, at the same time to be creative and innovative. However, the ability to either adapt and ideate requires a massive set of skills that can take years to build.

    Often the problem is that there´s no clear vision on where to start and which direction to go.

    Building a positive routine is a good starting point.  It helps to break the goals and ideas into small actions that can be adjusted as the goal becomes clearer. Then, the routine needs to be sustained and improved into aspects of life. 

    Daily routine, when mixed with reflective thinking, will more likely produce a bigger impact in life. 


    Designing your routine

    Good life Engine is the course open for everyone who believes in the small yet impactful benefit of routine building. The routine can be simple and independent, yet it can as well be fused with a specific goal, you would like to emphasize during the course time. As long as the routine sparks an interest in you.


    Good Life Engine journey

    There are two versions of the course that you can choose a 9-month journey or a 5-month journey.

    During 9 months or 5 months, the course helps students to design, build and maintain a routine. In the first month, you will evaluate your goal(s) in life, break it down into concrete actions, and pick a routine in which you believe best serves the goal but is simple enough for you.

    Then, you will work to build and execute the routine. The teachers will keep track of your routine performance by using a customized chatbot that was designed for our course.

    Students will also be put into groups, and there will be 1-2 group meetings with the teachers in one semester to discuss the execution and development of the routine.

    We are applying the design thinking concept to shape the routine until it provides true value to you. To keep the process motivating, the goal can and is encouraged, to be modified during the course. Thus, your routine content could be adjusted as well.


    The Dialogue

    Every month, there is a lecture where guest speakers introduce well-being, time management, prioritization, and habit formation. Speakers are representatives from different fields, ranging from neurology, psychology, and business. The monthly sessions are designed to provide practical tools, new perspectives, and moments of reflection.

    In addition to the monthly sessions, groups are there to create a healthy amount of peer-support and reflective team feedback. You will be communicating with fellow students and teachers on daily basis as well as in the group meetings.

    Psychologists of Aalto All Well is also there to help us with their expertise.


    Learning goals

    • To understand how the big picture with career plans and personal development can be connected in a sustainable way.
    • To break down big goals and ideas into practical decisions, actions, routines.
    • To execute the routines to find out rhythms of life.

    Student testimonials 

    “I think the most useful “tool” that I gained during this course is probably the understanding of how important it actually is to dedicate time for the things that give you energy.”

    “I think Good Life Engine is a very interesting course and it is very nice to see courses that are basically there to improve the quality of life of students in the university curriculum. I am glad I saw the ad for it on MyCourses because GLE was perfect for my current life situation.”

    “For many months, I do not see this routine as something that I have to do ‘for school’, but as something that I do for myself as it allows me to have a better life (engine). Not only I was able to improve my school grades and the learning process, but it also helped me in my personal aspects of my daily life.”

     

    Level of the course

    All Aalto students - Bachelor students, Master’s level, and further

    Evaluation

    Pass/Fail

    Teaching period

    I-V with two entry points, one in September and one in January.

    The course will be taught online. The zoom link will be sent every month.

    Contact info

    Responsible teachers: Johannes Kaira - johannes.kaira@aalto.fi, Lidia Borisova - lidia.borisova@aalto.fi

    Course assistant: Linh Duong - thuy.duong@aalto.fi


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