The Neuroscience of Personal Excellence

Many of us struggle to understand our actions and behavior in any given situation. Especially when pressure and stress are highest. What if we could make better decisions, create healthy habits more easily, regulate our emotions, become more mentally tough and perform well under pressure? There are certain defining moments in your life, in this course you'll learn to tap into your personal excellence when it matters. The reason we struggle often comes down to the fact that we are unaware how our engine works. The engine, in this metaphor, is our brain. It is the driving force behind our actions and behavior. Understanding how it works best is crucial to perform at your best. This course is part of the "Neuroscience of Leadership" specialization, which examines leadership techniques through the lens of social cognitive neuroscience and psychology. Utilizing the latest research, we develop a leadership practice based on the foundation of neuroscience. The focus of this course is developing your personal excellence to lead oneself better. We start with a journey through your brain and nervous system to give you a basic understanding of how the system works. You'll learn how the brain learns and creates habits. You'll come away with knowledge about decision making and problem solving. Understanding how to regulate your arousal and find your sweet spot is crucial for high performance. Lastly, you'll learn how to be more mentally tough and resilient when chaos reigns. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience.