Recoding Your Life Objects

In 1946, Viktor Frankl, a famous neurologist, said, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” Just as we as developers thoughtfully design event handlers to respond to our events, so can we use that space to improve our personal and professional lives.

A majority of US adults suffer from on-the-job burnout. This can lead to serious physical and psychological illness, low productivity, and declined motivation. Business suffers when employees experience high stress, as evidenced by rising turnover rates and healthcare costs. In modern organizations, we see stress manifested as a focus on short-term goals, lack of vision, and routine thinking.

Learning to calm the mind allows us to focus on that space between stimulus and response. This can be accomplished through the practice of mindfulness, a technique that allows us to tap into and reprogram our reactive patterns to everyday events. Not only does mindfulness help individuals to more thoughtfully respond to situational stress, but it can also be key to building leaders and organizations that behave more intentionally. Steve Jobs was known to use mindfulness to improve focus, clarity, and creativity.

Join us on a journey to understand the practice of mindfulness, and how these techniques can influence workplace culture and help tech workers focus in a world full of digital “noise.” You will come away with a new awareness of the flexibility of your brain to listen more deeply, respond more intentionally, and create inner peace.

Learning outcomes:

• What is mindfulness practice, and why is it relevant and beneficial to the well-being of employees and their organizations?
• How can we better respond to situational stress by intentionally breaking reactive thought patterns?
• What caveats should every organization know about before integrating mindfulness practices into their strategic planning process?

Audience: anyone at any level, no mindfulness experience required