Good Life Engine

Good Life Engine is a hands-on self-leadership course that creates a framework for personal growth by providing a toolkit for connecting with your inner self and the community. The journey you are about to take will help you navigate life with more clarity and comfort and see opportunities for self-development. 

Self-improvement is not a miracle. It results from small daily practices and decisions that require more than just patience. That’s why we offer a multidisciplinary course where students of any level learn the importance of psychological and physical balance to prepare for challenges, achieve goals, and maintain a positive attitude in life. A critical element of the course is the courage and ability to disassemble unwanted dysfunctional structures without burning bridges or causing damage to oneself or others. Good Life Engine will help you to accumulate a certain buffer of psychological capital, like insurance against small setbacks, so that they will not make you give up or turn away from your personal goals and direction.

You will learn how to question conventional thinking, understand what you really want, what you need, and what is imposed by society in order to avoid a clash between your values and actions. The course will be especially beneficial for anyone feeling lost or enslaved by their calendar, and for getting to know oneself — and others — better.

“This course should be introduced at the beginning of university studies everywhere.”

– Student feedback

About the course 

This course aims to familiarise students with the concept of steady, daily process and incremental changes. The course introduces psychological capital, time-management, mindfulness, design-thinking themes, goal setting, and other topics that support and encourage students to manifest ideas. 

We are often told to be flexible and adaptive, to be creative and innovative. However, the ability to either adapt or ideate requires a massive set of skills that can take years to build. One has to know their ambitions, strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals. Additionally, one has to be in good health and strength with an open mind, to be able to see what’s important and filter out the irrelevant. Simply speaking, it all comes to daily behavioral patterns that are in line with our goals and values. 

“The lessons were great occasions to learn, discuss with other students, and tackle different aspects that can contribute to a healthier and more effective lifestyle.”

– Student feedback

Practice concrete tools for time management and self-reflection on a very fundamental level and explore mind-caring topics that help prioritize key elements that lead towards your goals. In order for something new to grow, something old needs to go. Through the years we have seen these tools work in practice for a very diverse crowd of students. 

Over the course, there are various well-being and self-development concepts introduced to students. Each concept provides various foundational aspects in life, including for example self-reflection, mind-body connection, time management, and self-compassion.

As the course focuses on the student’s individual journey, most of the work is done outside the class. However, we will guide you on this journey and be there for you. There will be a lecture or workshop roughly once a week — outside of those times, you can work however works you the best. Less sitting in class, more living.

The course is open for all Aalto students, so whether you’re working on your Bachelor’s, Master’s or Ph.D., sign up for some better wellbeing! (Doctoral students, note that you won’t be able to include these course credits in your degree. However, you are more than welcome to join us on this journey.)

Some lectures are also open to the public, more info published on events page.

“Thank you for this course. It has given me lots of new perspective and highlighted the importance of self-care and habits even amid a rather chaotic phase in my life.”

– Student feedback