Dan Lerner; Alan Schlechter Books
Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter are professors at New York University, where they co-teach the 'Science of Happiness' course. Lerner is a performance coach and speaker specializing in positive psychology, while Schlechter is a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Known for: U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Books by Dan Lerner; Alan Schlechter
U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
College is often sold as a time of freedom, discovery, and opportunity. In reality, it can also be a period of stress, loneliness, pressure, and confusion about identity, purpose, and performance. In U Thrive, Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter argue that success in college is not just about grades, résumés, or getting into the right internships. It is about learning how to build a life that is psychologically healthy, socially connected, and deeply meaningful. Drawing on their experience teaching New York University’s popular "Science of Happiness" course, the authors combine research from positive psychology, education, and behavioral science with stories from real students facing common college challenges. Their message is both compassionate and practical: thriving is not a personality trait you either have or lack, but a set of learnable habits, mindsets, and skills. This matters because many students spend years chasing achievement while neglecting well-being. U Thrive offers a better model, showing how strengths, relationships, resilience, purpose, and emotional health can work together to help students not only survive college, but grow through it.
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Positive Psychology Redefines Student Success
Many students arrive at college believing that success means managing stress, avoiding failure, and collecting achievements. U Thrive challenges that narrow definition by introducing positive psychology as the science of what helps people flourish. This field does not deny suffering or suggest that ...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Strengths Fuel Confidence and Growth
One of the most common mistakes students make is building their identity around deficiencies. They obsess over what they lack, compare themselves to more polished peers, and assume improvement means becoming someone else. The authors argue that thriving begins when students understand and use their ...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Mindset Shapes Motivation and Resilience
Students often think motivation comes first and action follows. U Thrive flips that assumption by showing how beliefs about ability, effort, and failure strongly influence motivation itself. A fixed mindset treats intelligence and talent as largely static: you either have what it takes or you do not...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Relationships Are a Hidden Academic Advantage
College culture often celebrates independence, but thriving rarely happens alone. One of the book’s strongest insights is that meaningful relationships are not a luxury added after academic success; they are a major reason academic and personal success become possible. Human beings are social, and b...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Stress Requires Skills, Not Shame
Stress is often treated as proof that a student is failing to cope. U Thrive offers a more useful perspective: stress is a normal part of growth, and the real question is whether students have the tools to respond to it well. College introduces constant demands, including academic deadlines, social ...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
Passion Is Built More Than Found
Many students feel intense pressure to discover their one true passion as if it were a hidden object waiting to be uncovered. U Thrive offers a more grounded and liberating view. Passion is rarely a lightning bolt. More often, it develops gradually through exposure, effort, curiosity, and increasing...
From U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life)
About Dan Lerner; Alan Schlechter
Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter are professors at New York University, where they co-teach the 'Science of Happiness' course. Lerner is a performance coach and speaker specializing in positive psychology, while Schlechter is a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Lan...
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Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter are professors at New York University, where they co-teach the 'Science of Happiness' course. Lerner is a performance coach and speaker specializing in positive psychology, while Schlechter is a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Lan...
Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter are professors at New York University, where they co-teach the 'Science of Happiness' course. Lerner is a performance coach and speaker specializing in positive psychology, while Schlechter is a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter are professors at New York University, where they co-teach the 'Science of Happiness' course. Lerner is a performance coach and speaker specializing in positive psychology, while Schlechter is a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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