Hacking Your Brain For
Fun and Profit
Nathaniel T. Schutta
1
Who am I?
• Nathaniel T. Schutta
http://www.ntschutta.com/jat/
• @ntschutta
• Foundations of Ajax & Pro Ajax and Java
Frameworks
• UI guy
• Author, speaker, teacher
2
The Plan
• Sleep
• Exercise
• Learning
• Managing Information
• Distractions
• Stress
• External Brain
• Road Blocks
3
Our brain is our
greatest asset.
4
Despite recent advances,
still many unknowns.
5
Learn more daily.
6
Often via freak accidents.
7
Simple steps, big payback.
8
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70% < 8 hours,
40% < 7 hours.
10
Sleep matters.
11
We’re not sure
why we sleep.
12
Quite vulnerable...
13
Not about “rest.”
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Brain is incredibly active.
15
Key to learning.
16
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Use it to solve problems.
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Aids memory formation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2009/09/090915174506.htm
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Transfer of information.
20
Circadian rhythm is
in our genetics.
21
Some genes turn on once
every 24, 12 or 8 hours.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/
2009/04/23/a.biological.basis.8.hour.workday
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Lack of sleep hurts
performance.
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Naps improve it.
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http://dilbert.com/fast/2009-05-26/
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26 minutes = 34%
improvement.
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At 3 p.m., brain really
wants to nap.
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Bad time for meetings.
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Part of some cultures.
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Sleep deprivation severely
affects the brain.
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Effects felt within 24 hours.
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Blood pressure rises.
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Trouble metabolizing
glucose.
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Immune system
suppressed.
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Body temp drops.
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1959, Peter Tripp stayed awake for 8 days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mXrANL9aqz8&feature=related
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To raise money for charity.
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Hallucinations, paranoia.
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Randy Gardner stayed up.
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For 11 days.
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For the science fair...
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After 5, mimicked
Alzheimer's.
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Hallucinations, paranoia.
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Interrogation technique.
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Skip a night?
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30% loss in cognitive skill.
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Contributes to obesity.
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Feel hungrier.
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Leptin goes down,
ghrelin goes up.
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Sparks cravings,
longer to feel full.
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Consistently getting
only 6 hours a night...
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Like skipping 2 nights.
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Worse, people didn’t
realize they were impaired.
http://www.spokane.wsu.edu/ResearchOutreach/
Sleep/documents/2003SLP-VanDongen-etal.pdf
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Some people need less...
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Insomniac gene?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2009/09/090916153136.htm
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Sleep deprivation is
only part of the story.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevcole/2327954530/
kevincole
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_brace/217149481/
Stevie-B
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1/10 are early
chronotype.
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2/10 are late
chronotype.
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When are you at your best?
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Does that work
in your office?
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We evolved by walking.
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A lot.
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Up to 12 miles a day.
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Any of you walk 12
miles a day?
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Brain loves glucose.
69
2% of mass,
20% of energy.
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Generates a lot of waste.
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Exercise improves
blood flow.
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“Paves new highways.”
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Flushes free radicals.
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Stimulates Brain Derived
Neurotrophic Factor.
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Improves brain function.
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Exercisers significantly
outperform.
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Walking desks.
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Walking conference rooms!
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Walking meetings.
81
Boeing.
82
Mayo clinic: “office of
the future.”
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Learning.
84
Change is constant.
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Must be able to learn.
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How do we do that?
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Cramming doesn’t work.
88
Elaborate, meaningful,
context.
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Stories, examples.
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Repeat to remember.
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Spaced repetition.
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2,2,2?
93
Timing is key.
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We forget.
95
Actually good that we do.
96
Information decay is
predictable.
97
Not the same for
everyone.
98
Or every fact.
99
Computers can help.
100
Piotr Wozniak.
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/
magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak
101
SuperMemo.
http://www.supermemo.com/
102
There is an open
source alternative.
103
Mnemosyne.
http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/
104
Learning with lists.
http://lifehacker.com/5192079/
smartfm-boosts-learning-with-lists
105
smart.fm
https://smart.fm/login
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Skills acquisition.
107
Shu Ha Ri.
http://www.aikidofaq.com/essays/tin/shuhari.html
108
“Learn the principle, abide by the
principle, and dissolve the principle.”
Bruce Lee
109
Dreyfus model.
110
5 stages.
111
Novice - recipes.
112
Advanced beginner moves beyond rules.
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Competent - can
troubleshoot.
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Proficient - self correct.
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Expert - intuition.
116
Rules are key for beginners.
117
Rules *kill* experts.
118
Expert = 10 years?
119
Most folks are
advanced beginners.
120
Dunning-Kruger effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect
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Cognitive bias.
122
Lake Wobegon.
123
Incompetent people
overestimate their skill.
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Competent people
underestimate.
125
Confidence trumps
expertise...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227115.500humans-prefer-cockiness-to-expertise.html
126
Hmmmm...
127
Managing information.
128
129
There’s a lot of
bits out there.
130
New languages,
technologies, approaches.
131
Books, articles, blogs,
podcasts, Twitter...
132
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulsynnott/2874663697/
gwaar
133
How do you keep up?
134
Be selective.
135
Can’t read it all.
136
Consider an
information diet.
137
Pick the areas you
care about.
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Go deep on that.
139
Skim the rest.
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“Selective Ignorance.”
141
Use your friends ;)
142
Prune aggressively.
143
If you’re not
reading it, delete it.
144
145
If they’re not updating...
146
147
A/B stream.
148
Take advantage of
dead space.
149
Bring articles to meetings.
150
Read while waiting.
151
Listen on the way to work.
152
Or while you workout!
153
Books on “CD.”
154
Turn off the TV?
155
Average American - 151
hours of TV a month.
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/tvinternet-and-mobile-usage-in-us-continues-to-rise/
156
Two hundred billion
hours annually (U.S.)
157
2,000 Wikipedias a year.
158
100 million hours a
weekend watching ads.
159
That’s a Wikipedia a
weekend. On ads.
http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/
2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html
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That’s a lot of surplus.
161
Imagine what even a
small change might mean.
162
Distractions.
163
We can’t multitask.
164
Doesn’t work.
165
Well, if it involves
thought at least.
166
Driving and cell phones?
167
Texting = 23x crash risk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/
technology/28texting.html
168
Driving and distractions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/
technology/19distracted.html
169
Sure, you can walk
and chew gum...
170
IM, email, phone call,
music, work?
171
Linda Stone.
172
Continuous partial attention.
http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome
173
Interruptions kill flow.
174
15 minutes to reload.
175
176
Think about debugging.
177
You’ve created a model
in your head.
178
179
And I stop by to ask
about the game.
180
Sorry about that.
181
In context vs. out.
182
Project rooms work.
183
Its all in context.
184
Easy to tune out.
185
Turn off interruptions.
186
Email, IM, etc.
187
Set expectations.
188
Immediate response?
189
Really?
190
Email apnea.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-stone/
just-breathe-building-th_b_85651.html
191
Zero inbox.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=973149761529535925
192
Email bankruptcy.
http://www.43folders.com/2006/07/28/email-bankruptcy
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GTD.
194
195
No meeting Friday.
196
Quiet time/office hours.
197
How about scheduling
meetings for < 1 hour?
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO
%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220090119148%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20090119148&RS=DN/20090119148
198
Pomodoro technique.
199
Pick a task.
200
25 Minutes.
by tanakawho
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/2641260615/
201
Work.
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Take a break!
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Rinse and repeat.
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Take a longer break!
205
http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
206
Treat yourself.
207
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2008-11-20/
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External Brain.
209
We forget.
210
Computers don’t.
211
Neither does paper.
212
Ideas happen.
213
Just hits you.
214
215
Be prepared.
216
Capture them when
they happen.
217
Pen and paper.
218
Hipster PDA,
Moleskine, index card.
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/
introducing-the-hipster-pda
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“I’ll remember that later.”
220
Probably won’t.
221
Write it down.
222
Ideas beget ideas...
223
Capture them and
you’ll get more!
224
You’ll surprise yourself.
225
Developer notebooks.
http://gusmueller.com/blog/archives/
2009/03/developer_notebooks.html
226
Haven’t I done this before?
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Write it down!
228
http://fieldnotesbrand.com/
http://www.pocketmod.com/
http://www.moleskine.com/index_eng.php
229
Brains are very
powerful tools.
230
Simple steps.
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Big payoff!
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Books
• Brain Rules
• A Whole New Mind
• Mind Hacks
• Your Brain: The Missing Manual
• Lifehacker
• Getting Things Done
• Pragmatic Thinking and Learning
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Websites
• http://www.brainrules.net/
• http://lifehacker.com/
• http://www.43folders.com/izero
• http://www.mindhacks.com/
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Questions?!?
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Thanks!
Please complete your surveys.
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