Overview

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. Learn more about the ME-EM program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/me-engineering-management-boulder.

Syllabus

Foundations of Neuroscience

As a starting point for a discussion about the neuroscience of personal excellence, we will need a common vocabulary and knowledge about how the brain works. In this first module, you will learn about the key parts of the brain and nervous system. Begin to understand how neurotransmitters, hormones and brain waves affect behavior. Lastly, the social brain hypothesis and how maleable the adult brain actually is will be discussed. Consider this module a journey to introduce you to basic neuroscience.

Learning and Habituation

Our lives are largely driven by our habits. Research states that 43% of our behavior is habitual. In this module, we will explore the neuroscience of learning and habituation so that you can learn to harness it to your advantage.

Decision Making and Problem Solving

To improve our decision-making and problem solving skills, we must learn how our brain approaches these tasks. In this module, we'll discuss ways to improve. We'll also review how to keep our minds healthy with proven neuroscience.

Finding Your Sweet Spot

Many people see fear, stress and anxiety as somethign that should be avoided. In this module, you will come to learn that they each have a valuable part to play for performance related tasks. Being able to regulate arousal is the key to finding your sweet spot when it comes to elite performance.

Forging Mettle

To be at our best, we need to be able to withstand the storms of life. In this module you will come away with and understanding of psychological resilience, perseverance and mental toughness. Each overlapping the others. We'll also explore tactics for developing your mental strength.