Why is it so hard to spend money and time on our personal development, while it is so easy to buy another pair of shoes or eat out? We all know and accept that junk food is bad for us, but we still eat it. I think it is the same thing that we know that personal development is good for us, but still, we don’t spend time or money on it.
The problem is our mindset. Most of us do not feel the need for learning. In other words, we aren’t aware of the benefits and outcomes or we underestimate them. For example, if we learn to manage our time well, it most likely will help us at work and at home. We will become more effective and our happiness will increase. So, this year, before we extend our family, we decided to take more training. We were willing to spend time and money on it. While searching for our options, we came up with Coursera. It is an online education system where you can find courses from universities all around the world. If your main goal is learning, it is totally free. Also, if you want to obtain a certificate, you just need to pay a reasonable price.
The first course we started to take is “The Science of Well-Being” by Laurie Santos, a professor in psychology at Yale University. It is a 10 weeks course, and we are already in week 4. The exciting part is that once you started learning you will become part of the classroom. We love the way the professor talks and explains the lectures. She is very sweet, knowledgeable and passionate about what she teaches. I feel like she became our new friend.
Surprisingly, the contents are what we needed. It teaches all the misconceptions about happiness. For example, most of us believe and think to become happier, we need a beautiful big home, a good salary, nice vacations, and to look like a model. However, these are not the main things that make us happy but what we think makes us happy. It provides reading material, new concepts with scientific explanations and data. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having or wanting to have this awesome stuff as long as we are mindful of them. So, the lecture is teaching the ways that we can increase happiness in our life, with things like savoring more, gratitude, sleeping and exercise. I’m not even halfway yet, but I love it so far. Another beautiful part of it is that this is the first course I have studied with my husband
When we searched a little bit, we found out that we do not have to spend a lot of many or any to be able to get the training and we need it. Coursera is one of the examples but there are many of them such as; edX, Khan Academy, and LinkedIn learning. Since we are lucky enough to spend little or no money, now all we need to think about is spending our time on what matters the most.
I am very excited, and happy that I’ve started my year with Coursera. I can’t wait to go through other courses and create a beautiful 2020
I’m a Project Manager with a deep passion for both professional and personal growth. Designing and building the next generation of vehicles is incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its challenges—especially for someone as emotionally invested as I am!