Welcome to the course "Achieving Your Optimal Performance."
During this course, you will take a journey where you will explore
what it looks like when you are at your best
and what environments will bring out your optimal performance.
My name is Rich Mayhew.
I'll be your instructor during this course.
I've been an instructor with UCSD Extension for over 10 years.
My background is in the banking industry,
where I led people to achieve things they didn't think possible.
I was a turnaround manager, which meant that I repaired departments
that were not operating at their best and achieved results
by bringing out the best in my staff.
After that, I started my consulting company and I've worked with leaders around the globe
to maximize their impact as leaders.
I also instruct a course at UCSD that prepares PhDs
and graduate students for life in the non-academic world.
So you're in good hands.
Defining and achieving your optimal performance is not easy, but it is achievable.
Interestingly, achieving high performance does not have to occur by trial and error,
though for some, that is how they achieved it.
I'll give you a much shorter approach.
Here's the punchline.
Achieving optimal performance is 80 percent about knowing yourself.
The good news is that you already have a sense
about who you are in relation to how you work and what brings out the best in you.
The challenge is - and I have fallen into this trap -
we get presented in life with bright, shiny objects that are opportunities.
They look appealing, even seductive.
We go for them.
It could be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a venture
that a colleague is involved in.
It could be a position in an organization that has appealing pay and benefits.
It could be an opportunity to work on a project
or with a product that appeals to your values.
In all these situations, knowing yourself and what brings out the best in you
will provide you with the best wise counsel that you could ever ask for.
This course will help you do that.