Success

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-success

Introduction

**Course Review: Success on Coursera** In an age where the definition of success is often obscured by societal standards and pressures, the Coursera course titled "Success," created by Wharton Professor G. Richard Shell, emerges as a beacon for individuals seeking clarity in their quest for personal achievement and fulfillment. This course is particularly valuable for anyone who has ever felt the weight of conventional expectations or struggled to align their goals with their fundamental values. ### Course Overview "Success" is designed to guide you in defining success on your own terms. Professor G. Richard Shell leverages his extensive experience and research, offering personalized assessments to help students navigate their beliefs and values surrounding success. This course is structured over four weeks, each dedicated to exploring deep-seated beliefs, personal values, insightful research, and ultimately, creating a personalized roadmap to success. ### Syllabus Breakdown **Week 1: Launching Your Personal Search for Success** The journey begins by encouraging students to introspect and define what success truly means to them, beyond societal norms. Participants engage in reflective exercises such as the "Six Lives," which promote self-assessment and exploration of personal beliefs about success. This week sets a strong foundation by enabling learners to identify their values and the images they associate with success, thus creating a personalized set of tools to pursue their own definitions. **Week 2: How to Think About Success on Your Own Terms** This module dives deeper by encouraging introspection into past experiences and personal values. By identifying their “four diamonds,” students uncover the unique capabilities intrinsic to them, fostering an understanding that success is not one-size-fits-all. Moreover, Shell elucidates on common habits of successful individuals and methods to renew one’s values, equipping students with sustainable practices to thrive. **Week 3: Diving Deeper: What Research Tells Us About Achievement and Happiness** In the third week, the course pivots to a scientific look at success and its connection with happiness. Professor Shell discusses the potential pitfalls of an achievement-based definition of success, revealing the “four traps” of achievement and the reasons behind the dissatisfaction it can often cause. This module encourages students to reassess their metrics of success, aiming for fulfillment beyond mere accomplishments. **Week 4: Putting it Together: Charting Your Path to the Future** The final week serves as a culmination of all prior insights. Students are tasked with creating their own theories of success and mapping their paths forward. Using the achievement-happiness matrix, participants reflect on their current state and motivations. This forward-looking approach not only solidifies their understanding but also lays down a practical framework to pursue their personalized vision of happiness and success. ### Personal Reflection As a participant in this course, I found the structure to be well-paced and enriching. The combination of introspective exercises and scholarly insights provided me with a comprehensive look at what success could mean for me, free from the confines of societal expectation. The community aspect, through peer reviews of personal theories of success, offered diverse perspectives that sparked further contemplation and exploration. ### Recommendation I highly recommend “Success” for anyone feeling lost in the maze of personal goals and societal definitions. Whether you are a student, a working professional, or anyone at a crossroads in life, this course's practical applications and vast insights can help you reshape your understanding of accomplishment and fulfillment. Professor Shell’s engaging teaching style and the structured approach empower you to uncover what truly matters to you, and in turn, help you forge a path that aligns with your authentic self. In conclusion, if you are ready to embark on a deeply transformative journey towards understanding and cultivating your unique version of success, look no further than this outstanding course on Coursera. It’s not just about achieving success—it’s about achieving the right kind of success that resonates with who you are.

Syllabus

Week 1: Launching Your Personal Search for Success

This module is designed to help you define success for yourself through exploring the hidden beliefs you hold about success. You'll learn the three truths of success, and the role of culture and family in defining success. You'll also participate in the "Six Lives" exercise, which will guide you to deeper questions of your beliefs about success, as well as how those beliefs compare to others. By the end of this module you'll be able to assess yourself, your values, and your images of what success means. As a result, you can begin to adapt the tools that will work for you to achieve whatever your definition of success is.

In this module, you'll learn how to think about success on your own terms. You'll explore ways of looking inside yourself, and into your past, to find the values and capabilities that you have determined for your personal success. You'll identify your "four diamonds" - the capabilities you have in your own heart and soul to develop the inner and outer success that will be most satisfying to you. You'll learn the two habits that successful people share, as well as the four different ways you can renew your success values. By the end of this module you'll have a deep understanding of what success is for you on your terms, and how to sustain and renew your beliefs in the face of challenges.

This module was created to give you an overview of the science of success so that you can use that knowledge to begin exploring the relationship between success and happiness. You'll learn the four traps of achievement, as well as the four reasons to worry about achievement-based success. Finally, you'll examine the question of whether or not success equals happiness. By the end of this module you'll be able to differentiate between success that is based on achievements, which can be unsatisfying, and success based on other metrics, that can bring deep satisfaction to your life.

In this module, you'll begin putting together everything you have learned about yourself and about success so that you can chart your own path to the future. You'll learn how to use the achievement-happiness matrix to assess your current state, how to determine your current motivations, how to discover what work is meaningful to you (and whether or not you are employed doing it), and how happiness and success are measured differently. You'll conclude this module, and the course, by creating a personal theory of success which you will share with your classmates in peer review. There, you'll have the opportunity to see other theories of success, which may spark some additional exploration of your own. By the end of this module you'll have articulated a personalized theory and vision of success that you can use to create more happiness for you yourself.