Hack Your Brain Improve yourself and your work You can improve yourself Evette Software Engineer Nick Network Engineer Dell Product Designer Peyton Product Manager What's her struggle? • Thoughts just keep circling around • Feels overwhelmed with worries and general chaos • Everything wrong is happening to her Evette Software Engineer A Solution? Mindfulness What is mindfulness? • Mental habit of paying attention without thinking • Logging for your brain How to practice mindfulness • Focus your attention on something • Keep your focus, but don't judge yourself • Don't strive to hard • Simple but not easy How will this help Evette? Thoughts just keep circling around • Allows her to redirect thoughts Feels overwhelmed with worries and general chaos • Helps with fear and chaos by down-regulating Everything wrong is happening to her • Helps her find insight and perspective Evette Software Engineer What is the struggle? • They have a resolution list a mile long • Starts and stops trying to tackle procrastination, healthy eating, exercise... • Lots of to-do lists Dell Product Designer An idea to help? Habit building What is a habit? • Not just "something you do every day" • Frequently recurring behaviors, that trigger when a cue is encountered • Then the behavior is performed automatically Think of habits like helper scripts Once you write one, just run it at it works Once a habit is ingrained, it becomes automatic Example Habits • When you wake up (trigger), you brush your teeth (habit). • When you get to work (trigger), you check your email/slack (habit) • When you get stressed (trigger), you eat cheetos/ chocolate (habit) How to form a habit? 1. Identify your goal 2. Create environmental triggers 3. Define your reward Identify the trigger • Figure out existing triggers • Look for something already in your routine • Examples: • Showering • Eating Breakfast • Commuting The Negative Habit Loop Tips for making a habit stick • Find out what you like • Have a habit buddy • Keep score • Make it hard to not do Treat your habit like a sprint and have a retro