Your Emotional API - Lightning Version

Feelings are messy and uncomfortable, why don’t we just ignore them? Because ignoring them destroys our ability to code. We can’t think as well. Increasing emotional mastery can have huge impacts on our careers and productivity. We’ll talk theory and practice for healthy emotions.

Transcript

1. Your Emotional API
   How to be a better developer by being a better human
   ⚡ Lightning Version ⚡
   
   …and now for something completely different.
   
   I’m here to talk about emotions, and how they can affect you as a developer.
   

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2. John Sawers
   CTO and Co-Founder at Data Simply
   Architect at Privia Health
   @emotionalAPI
   @johnksawers.com
   http://emotionalapi.com
   I’m John Sawers
   
   I’m the CTO and Co-founder of Data Simply
   
   And the Architect at Privia Health
   
   This is where to find me online.
   

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3. Emotions just make so
   much sense to me
   —No One Ever
   Given the fact that almost no one understands emotions,
   
   I want see what we can learn by modeling our emotional system as an API
   

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4. @emotionalAPI
   post ‘/feels/anger’ do
   end
   post ‘/feels/sadness’ do
   end
   post ‘/feels/fear’ do
   end
   Endpoints
   post ‘/feels/shame’ do
   end
   post ‘/feels/joy’ do
   end
   post ‘/feels/love’ do
   end
   Here are our core API endpoints.
   
   They handle all our basic emotions.
   

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5. @emotionalAPI
   It’s not that simple
   delete /job/1, 301: /feels/sadness
   put /events/mother/visit, 301: /feels/anger
   put /baby/new, 301: /feels/fear
   post /people/co-worker/comments/asshole, 301: /feels/anger
   get /people/boss/compliment, 301: /feels/pride
   There are hundreds or thousands of aliases that redirect to those core endpoints
   
   Things like losing a job, or having a baby can really hit you massively.
   

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6. @emotionalAPI
   It’s not even that simple
   delete /job/:id
   100.times do
   Thread.new(http.post(‘/feels/fear’)
   end
   20.times do
   Thread.new(http.post(‘/feels/sadness’)
   end
   end
   Method bodies can be complex and trigger massive traffic to that core API as well.
   
   And there’s some bad news.
   

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7. The Bad News:
   It’s a public API
   Any person, event or situation can call any of these endpoints at any time.
   

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8. The Good News:
   You have complete control over implementation
   How you react to a feeling is up to you. But it takes work to undo habitual responses.
   
   First, let’s talk about how your feeling server works in general.
   

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9. @emotionalAPI
   How Your Feeling Server Works
   Content-Type: feels
   Content-Length: ∞
   (hint, not very well)
   When one of the endpoints is hit, the download starts, but the server is flaky and cannot tell the size of the payload.
   
   As a feeling is happening to you, it seems like it will go on forever.
   

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10. When The Big Feels Hit
    Many of us have had the experience when a big feel comes in, that if we let it out, it will never stop.
    
    If I express this anger, I will never stop yelling. If I express this sadness, I will never stop crying.
    
    But here’s the thing
    

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11. @emotionalAPI
    20 Minutes Max
    Experts and my own experience have shown that feelings only last 20 minutes.
    
    If you express the feeling at 100% intensity it’ll be gone in 20 mins or less.
    

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12. @emotionalAPI
    You don’t have to,
    But you can control where
    and when you express
    your feelings
    So, when do we do this ‘100% expression’ ?
    
    We get to decide, because we have a queue
    

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13. @emotionalAPI
    http.get(‘/feels/anger’).perform_later
    Our delayed_job system, allows us to choose the right time and place.
    

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14. @emotionalAPI
    Safe Space
    • Alone in your house
    • In the wilderness
    • With a safe person
    We can do it alone or with a supportive partner.
    
    So, what does expressing these feelings look like?
    
    I’ll give you a few examples, but there’s much more to it.
    

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15. @emotionalAPI
    Anger
    • Throw a fit
    • Move your body
    • Say the words you’re dying to say:
    • “I feel so angry that…”
    Let’s start with anger, which is usually the easiest to start with.
    
    Toddlers are brilliant at this - they just lay down and kick and scream and cry. They’re done in 5 minutes.
    
    Use your voice and body to get the energy of it out of your body.
    
    To get started try saying “I feel so angry about…”
    

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16. @emotionalAPI
    Fear
    • Shudder and shake
    • Cry
    • Say the words you’re dying to say:
    • “I feel so afraid that…”
    Again, physical movement is key, but different.
    
    Even if nobody is with you, say the words that describe the feeling
    

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17. @emotionalAPI
    One thing is for sure
    You will feel incredibly stupid when you first try any
    of these things.
    You will feel like a Class A idiot when you start doing these things.
    
    Because we’re often so go good at avoiding feelings, the trick is to start doing those actions before you feel it.
    
    But keep going and it’ll come.
    

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18. @emotionalAPI
    That sounds really messy
    Why bother with all of this?
    

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19. @emotionalAPI
    Cognitive Problems
    • Poorer Executive Function
    • Poorer Short Term Memory
    • Lower ability to handle stress
    Unprocessed feelings make us feel powerless, and feeling powerless affects our thinking.
    
    When we handle feelings well we feel powerful, and we reverse these deficits.
    

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20. @emotionalAPI
    Social Benefits
    • Empathy!
    • Express your ideas better, without baggage
    • Help others with their emotional challenges
    By making your self better at feels, you make everyone
    around you better at it.
    If you know your own feelings, you’ll be able to understand other’s feelings
    
    You can choose how your own feelings affect your life and the lives of others. You can choose constructive responses, not
    habitual ones.
    

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21. Better Developer?
    What do I mean by better developer?
    
    If you’re emotional state isn’t affecting your cognition
    
    If you’re not distracted by difficult family situations
    
    If you can handle problematic team mates
    
    If you can banish your impostor syndrome
    
    If you can handle hiring, firing and job interviews, giving talks
    
    You will be a better developer and a better team mate
    

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22. Better Human?
    What do I mean by better human?
    
    What I mean by this is that you become better at being a human. You’re going to have emotions, you cannot avoid it. So why not get better at it?
    
    When you do - everything gets better.
    

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23. @emotionalAPI
    Thank You
    I’m just scratching the surface of all of this
    • Mailing List: http://emotionalapi.com
    • Twitter: @emotionalAPI
    • Talk to me in the hall!
    

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24. @emotionalAPI
    I’ll be giving the full version of this talk at the
    Abstractions conference.
    August 18-20 in Pittsburgh PA
    http://abstractions.io
    

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