Topic outline

  • General

    Overview

    Good Life Engine is a hands-on self-leadership course that creates a framework for personal growth by providing a toolkit for connecting with the inner self and community.

    It is natural to question whether the typical person possesses the emotional endurance to navigate a life filled with constant turmoil. Change can be an arduous process, and the frenzied nature of present-day society has resulted in a widespread epidemic of stress and anxiety. With the mounting unpredictability of the job market and individual career trajectories, global political crisis, economic crisis, and finally, the rise of AI, it begs the question: will individuals have the capacity to manage such challenges? The question on many people's minds is whether they can attain a sense of inner calm in a world that seems to be constantly shifting. Sadly, for numerous individuals in the modern era, feeling anxious and overwhelmed has become the norm. To attain peace and achieve success in this chaotic world, it is imperative to develop a resilient inner core that will allow you to navigate life with clarity and comfort. The Good Life Engine course will help you to accumulate a certain buffer of psychological capital, like insurance against small setbacks so that these will not make you give up or turn away from your personal goals and direction.

    No man is an island. We can not thrive in a vacuum. We need to connect with community. Thus, Good Life Engine will also introduce the approach to connect, reconnect and find your “tribe”, a place to be with other people.

    The course is highly practical. Students get to discuss the topics and get assignments connected to them. The core of the course is to equip every student with a practical toolkit of self-development exercises they can execute on their own long after the course. The course offers a library of tools instead of one general concept. During the course, every student will find something that fits their circumstances and needs.

    If you hesitate, here is a blog post that will answer your question "Why do I need a Good Life Engine course?" - 

    https://avp.aalto.fi/when-will-we-admit-that-we-need-other-people-to-feel-good/

    Main topics of the course:

    • Self-awareness and connection to self;
    • Personal values;
    • Long-term orientation and visioning;
    • Presence: practising living in the moment;
    • Time-management;
    • Mindset flexibility;
    • Empathy and compassion (including self-compassion);
    • Smooth ways to connect with others;
    • Resilience.

    The course is built in accordance with the Inner Development Goals framework (https://www.innerdevelopmentgoals.org/framework ) and has a human sustainability model in its core (self, emotions, and body).

    The Good Life Engine, Connecting to self and community, derives from the Good Life Engine course at Aalto University (https://avp.aalto.fi/avp-course/good-life-engine/) that has proven its success over the years. The Good Life Engine was created in response to the needs of Aalto University students regarding well-being and self-mastery.

    Students' quotes about Good Life Engine 2022-2023:

    • “Very interesting topics”;
    • “Important topics, inspiring teaching methods”;
    • “Great topics! Great variety and most of the topics felt meaningful and helped to give new perspective";
    • “Interesting topics that were new and novel to me. Really learned a lot”.

    During this Good Life Engine course, students:

    1. will learn self-awareness and create a connection with oneself:

    • Learning to read and manage emotions,
    • Learning how to tackle anxiety,
    • Gain a study/work-life balance without sacrificing progress towards their strategic goals. Students will learn how to live, not to run a marathon;
    • Will learn one’s motivating factors;
    • Learning to have a dialogue with body and heart and maintaining this connection;
    • Learning and practising living in the moment.

    2. Vision and direction (self-leadership):

    • will define their strategic life goals, plan the journey towards them, and plan how to best manage time to progress on this journey;
    • will study how to create new healthy habits, do the twists in their life to tackle anxiety and procrastination, learn how to stay resilient, and be empathic leader;
    • Fostering growth mindset and skills for life-long learning

    3. Connecting with others:

    • Understanding and practising empathy and compassion;
    • Co-creation skills;
    • Mindful Communication skills (Respectful dialogue and argumentation);
    • Mobilisation (entrepreneurship skills).

    Preliminary schedule

    • 31.01 – Basics: Values as a starting point
    • 7.02   – Basics: Nutrition [Guest speaker]
    • 14.02 – Stress management and tackling anxiety
    • 21.02 – Exam week, no session
    • 28.02 – Where do you want to go? Goal setting
    • 6.03   – How will you get there? Time-management
    • 13.03 – Self-leadership 
    • 20.03 – Coaching
    • 27.03 – Courage and proactive approach
    • 03.04 – no session
    • 10.04 – Course Wrap-up

    Assessment and assignments

    The course is assessed as pass-fail. To pass the course, students need to complete the following assignments:

    • E.g. Final assignment “A work/life project”
    • Learning diary
    • In-class activity (participating in sessions)

    Homework:

    Homework is always found under the respective session. Homework should be done before the next session, if not stated otherwise. 

    Learning Diary:
    Answer these four questions in your learning diary after each session. The last question can be omitted for the Kick-Off session (24.01.2024).

    •What new did you discover today at the session?
    •What did you feel today during the session?
    •What insights from this session could you use to improve your work, study, or everyday life?
    •Where are you with your routine? If you had any challenges – how did you overcome them?


    Course structure

    Lecture weeks (24.01-10.04)

    ·       Daily lectures and workshops on campus on Wednesdays from 13.15-15.00

    ·       individual assignments as homework

    Guidelines for Safer Space

    • Open Mindedness
    • Able to say if feeling uncomfortable
    • Interior design, colours
    • Flexibility to participate or not
    • Clarifying assumptions
    • Consciously stop the process of assuming things
    • Freedom to disagree with ideas
    • Friendly attitude
    • Assuming that people have good intentions
    • Smiling, making eye contact
    • Respecting boundaries
    • Being present and active listening
    • Being inclusive
    • Trust
    • Confidentiality
    • No discrimination/prejudice
    • Come as you are
    • Common guidelines for all


    Telegram group:
    Welcome to the Good Life Engine 2024 telegram group. There, you can discuss course content with your peers or share content and tips that you have found useful! 🙂

    Course workload

    Contact hours

    17,5 h

    Individual assignments

    53,5 h

    Reflection assignment

    10 h

    Total

    81 h (3 ECTS)

    Prerequisites

    This course does not require previous experience in the topic.

    Some of the methodologies used in the course:

    • Methodologies derived from the Good Life Engine course;
    • Designing Your Life by Burnett, Bill; Evans, Dave. Designing Your Life;
    • Logotherapy (Frankl, Viktor E., Man in search of the meaning);
    • The source by Dr. Tara Swart;
    • The Core by Aki Hintsa;
    • Frank’s Martela concept of how to live a happy life;
    • Peter's Drucker  Managing oneself;
    • Héctor's García and Francesc's Miralles Ikigai concept;
    • Stoics philosophy (Irvine, William B., A Guide to the Good Life);
    • System 1 and System 2 by D. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow;
    • Endurance by Scott Kelly;
    • Kolk, Bessel van der. The Body Keeps the Score;
    • Michael, Michael. Thinkertoys;
    • Pand, Dr Camilla, “Explaining humans. What science can teach us about life, love and relationships;
    • And many others.