Career Stress and the Healthy Mind Platter

Welcome to episode 91 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we discuss the concepts of Dan Siegel’s Healthy Mind Platter when managing career stress.

Original Recording Date: 08-28-2020

Topics – Dan Siegel’s Healthy Mind Platter
1:00 – Setting the Stage

Found an article validating stress in IT workers via Spiceworks
Get involved with a community!
Stress, burnout and redundancy: Tough times in IT
No time to switch off

Worry of losing job or contract during pandemic
Fewer outlets to unload stress / get a break
Boundaries around remote work

Half of employers don’t provide formal support for mental health issues, and one in seven tech professionals describe their employer as unsupportive on mental health issues.
The article tracked John and Nick’s experience with the current work environment.
Not every company had the capability of providing universal work-from-home
Even if you had the capability, it might not have been while every other person was at home working or remote schooling
John forgot that other companies might have issued desktops in-office
Nick has heard about people “living” at their data centers to properly support their applications and customers

7:01 – Healthy Mind Platter Introduction

Seven daily essential mental activities to optimize brain matter and create well-being
Optimize the performance of the brain
Mindful Awareness Research Center
John noticed that it was created in collaboration with David Rock who authored books we’ve mentioned before, Your Brain At Work and Coaching With The Brain In Mind

8:54 Focus Time

When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, we take on challenges that make deep connections in the brain
Flow state
We probably all do this every day
Also includes active listening or doing presentations
Nick shuts down email to help get there

10:48 Play Time

When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, we help make new connections in the brain
John thinks this includes doing interesting work-adjacent projects which you really enjoy
Nick regards the podcast as play time

12:07 Connecting Time

When we connect with other people, ideally in person, and when we take time to appreciate our connection to the natural world around us, we activate and reinforce the brain’s relational circuitry
It’s a tough time to do this during COVID-19
Video calls aren’t the same
John’s heard that the fewer people on a video call, the closer to an in-person experience it is
Nick especially likes this outside

14:18 Physical Time

When we move our bodies, aerobically if medically possible, we strengthen the brain in many ways
John’s experienced this with swing-dancing and cycling
Nick’s experienced this with dance-aerobics, relieving tension and stress
Nick was reminded of Brain Rules – John Medina: Physical activity can help solve problems and stimulate creativity

16:43 Time In

When we quietly reflect internally, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, we help to better integrate the brain
Oddly named; Maybe “Reflection Time” instead?
Introspection on career progress
Focusing on sensations and images, being present with yourself, as mentioned last episode as part of the Inner Game methodology

18:33 Down Time

When we are non-focused, without any specific goal, and let our mind wander or simply relax, we help the brain recharge
Unfocused is different
“Give yourself some time to be bored”
Gearing down

19:53 Sleep Time

When we give the brain the rest it needs, we consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day
The one we steal from the most
We have an instinct that we can be more productive by just not sleeping

21:09 Reviewing the Framework

It’s a representation of how a healthy mind might work, not a perfect model
Activity: make a guess about how much time you’re spending in each state to see if you’re missing time in a specific state
Inner Game Method: Just the act of observing in a non-judgemental way can lead us to naturally correct things

24:50 – Dear SpiceRex – Too Little Too Late– A scenario review

Synopsis

Employee not told about a project until execution begins (short timeline)
Lots of stress
Could not get server working at first once after a reimage
Went to manager, and manager took pressure off – "no one died"
Admin able to solve the problem without the stress on top
Was this a good / bad manager?

If there’s a change management process, it should include reviewing testing procedures. Why even have an approval process? It didn’t work.
Was risk communicated? Was there a rollback plan?
The person doing the work should be involved in the plan and testing
Career tip: De-risking a process can help you take the next step
What went wrong
The question asker should have called out the risk
We shouldn’t do it
Here’s the process we should use
The failure should have been called out immediately
What went right
The supervisor did the right thing by having a mitigation process and taking the process
The supervisor should have communicated the approval with enough time to test
With the short time frame, it’s much more difficult to push back; There weren’t designed times to examine things for a no-go decision
Did the boss resetting the stress level help with the solution?
Inner Game model: Self 1 causes the stress with speculating about consequences
“I had a different mindset”
Stop tool
Trying on a new attitude
Community again – connecting time!

Contact us if you need help on the journey.