Exploiting the Brain for Fun & Profit #wcpdx 2016

Post on 15-Apr-2017

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Alena Holligan@sketchings

sketchings.com

PHP Teacher at Treehouse PHP Users Group Leader Women Who Code Leader

EXPLOITING THE BRAINfor Fun and Profit

YOUR MOST IMPORTANT TOOL

Learning

Perception

Memory

Sleep

Exercise

Infotention

EVERYONE WITH A BRAIN STAND UP

RUN IN PLACE

“AWAKE AND ALERT”

PUNCHES

“I LISTEN, PAYING ATTENTION, FOLLOW THROUGH”

READ ALOUD

enthusiastic

motivational

fascinating

enjoyable

fun

humorous

useful

beneficial

simple

profitable

valuable

easy

REARRANGE SENTENCE

talk this beneficial is fascinating

TWO TRUTHSEveryone is the same Everyone is different

PRIMING

ELDERLY PRIMING

Words: Old, Gray, Florida

Significantly longer to walk to the elevator

Done on psychology students

Did the priming influence you? NO

Why? Make things up

We don’t say “I don’t know”

THE BRAIN MAKES THINGS UP

WE DON’T EVEN REALIZE IT

I’M ALWAYS RIGHT. I REMEMBER THINGS WRONG.

MEMORY

SLEEP

Who gets 10 hours of sleep?

70% <8 hours

40% <7 hours

SLEEP EXPERIMENT

5 days mimicked Alzheimer's

hallucinations and paranoia

30% loss in cognitive ability after 1 night

chronic sleep deprivation is like 2 nights sleep

factor to obesity

feel hungry

get cravings

longer to feel full

DIDN’T FEEL IMPAIRED

SOME PEOPLE NEED LESSinsomniac gene

PROBABLY NOT YOU!

NAPS IMPROVE PERFORMANCE26 min nap = 34% improvement ~ army

morning lark (1/10)

night owl (2/10)

play to your strengths

WHEN ARE YOU

STRONGEST

HOW DO WE LEARN

FORGETTING STUFF IS A FEATURE NOT A BUG

ELABORATE MEANINGFUL

CONTEXT

SPACED REPETITION

Increased knowledge and retention

Timing is key

Information decay

computers can help

The Mnemosyne Project

EXERCISE

WHY EXERCISE

improves blood flows

clears waste

improves performance

actually makes brain bigger

Exercise for 75 minutes to maximize mortality reduction per minute 20%

Walking Desks

Walking Meetings

Boeing

Mayo Clinic

INFOTENTIONManaging Information Overload

new languages

new technologies

new approaches

books

articles

blogs

podcasts

twitter

conferences

BOMBARDED WITH

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

HOW DO WE KEEP UP

ATTENTION IS PRECIOUS

BE SELECTIVE

INFORMATION DIET

SELECTIVE IGNORANCE

PICK SOMETHING YOU CARE ABOUT

SKIM THE REST

USE YOUR FRIENDS

PRUNE AGGRESSIVELYif you’re not reading it, delete it

UTILIZE WHITE SPACERead or Listen

Commuting, Working Out, Waiting

TURN OF THE TV

Average = 151 hours of TV a month

Two hundred billion hours annually (US)

2,000 wikipedias a year

100 million hours a weekend watching ads

TURN OFF FACEBOOK

DISTRACTIONS

WE CAN’T MULTI-TASK

CONTINUOUS PARTIAL ATTENTION

INTERRUPTIONS KILL FLOW

EMAIL IS LIKE GAMBLINGvariable reinforcement

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

TURN OFF INTERRUPTIONS

INBOX ZERO

GETTING THINGS DONE (GTD)

POMODORO TECHNIQUE (AGILE)

pick a task

timed work

break

repeat

after 4 iterations longer break

= REWARD

EXTERNAL BRAIN

WE FORGET

COMPUTERS DON’T

PAPER DOESN’T EITHER

CAPTURE IDEAS TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS

No you won’t remember it later

WIKI IS A GREAT TOOL FOR TEAMS

FINAL THOUGHTS

-Ralph Keeney, Duke University

America’s top killer isn’t cancer or heart disease, nor is it

smoking or obesity. It’s our inability to make smart

choices and overcome our own self-destructive behaviors.

CHOOSE ONE SMALL STEP TODAY

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Predictably Irrational

A Whole New Mind

Getting Things Done

Your Brain: The Missing Manual

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

Brain Rules

Mind Hacks

Sway

Nudge

Drive

WEBSITES

brainrules.net

lifehacker.com

43folders.com/izero

mindhacks.com

Alena Holligan@sketchings

sketchings.com

PHP Teacher at Treehouse PHP Users Group Leader Women Who Code Leader