Optimize Your Mindset (Without Overclocking)

Nebraska.Code() 2026: As developers, we're always optimizing our workflows, but why don't we optimize our thoughts? Your career isn't 100% code, and in the age of AI tools, constant notifications, and information overload, the skills that matter most aren't technical. Everyone struggles with focus, managing stress, accepting feedback, or finding time for what matters. But you don't have to stay stuck.

This talk tells the story of four people and four research-backed techniques to level up your work and life: mindfulness for breaking thought loops and managing stress, growth mindset for embracing challenges and continuous learning, habit building for sustainable change, and deep work strategies for maintaining focus in a distracted world. Whether you're new to the field, a seasoned developer, or someone who's never explored "soft skills" talks, these practical strategies will help you grow, improve, and actually stick with new habits.

Transcript

1. Nebraska.Code() 2026 - Career Progression // V2026.1 $ optimize --target=self Optimize Your Mindset (without overclocking) Christine Seeman CPU 64%
2. Nebraska.Code() 2026 - Career Progression // V2026.1 AI Disclaimer •Me and Claude did a redesign of slide visuals. •All Content is human curated for good or bad (aka my me) •References and quotes will be be provided in full at the end and online Christine Seeman CPU 64%
3. // THE PREMISE You can improve yourself. Not with more willpower. With four research-backed techniques you can actually stick with.
4. // FOUR DEVELOPERS, FOUR STRUGGLES 👩💻 🧑🎨 👨🔧 👩💼 Everyone struggles. Nobody has to stay stuck.
5. // MEET THE CAST 👩💻 🧑🎨 👨🔧 👩💼 Evette Dell Nick Peyton Software Engineer Product Designer Network Engineer Product Manager → mindfulness → habit building → growth mindset → deep work
6. 👩💻 Software Engineer Evette What's her struggle? WARN Replaying the code review comment from this morning — for the fifth time WARN Overwhelmed with worries and general chaos WARN Everything wrong is happening to her
7. TECHNIQUE 01 · FOR EVETTE A solution? Mindfulness 01 / 04
8. “ Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally. — Jon Kabat-Zinn creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic & Center for Mindfulness
9. / / W H AT I S M I N D F U L N E S S ? The mental habit of paying attention — without thinking. console.log ( "your brain" )
10. // LIVE DEMO inhale · exhale Let's try a quick meditation.
11. / / H O W TO P R A C T I C E M I N D F U L N E S S 01 Focus your attention on something 02 Keep your focus — but don't judge yourself 03 Don't strive too hard Simple, but not easy.
12. Might even call this the Secret Sauce
13. / / FA Q Do you have to meditate in order to be mindful?
14. Am I going to need a lot of props? singing bowl an app subscription meditation cushion gong incense
15. Nope. There is no perfect way to meditate.
16. / / W H AT C A N I T H E L P W I T H ? Emotional balance Response flexibility Down-regulation of fear
17. But wait — there's more… Insight Empathy Morality Intuition
18. 👩💻 How will this help Evette? Replaying the code review comment for the fifth time → Lets her redirect her thoughts Overwhelmed with worries and chaos → Down-regulates fear and chaos Everything wrong is happening to her → Helps her find insight and perspective
19. 🧑🎨 Product Designer Dell What's the struggle? TODO The January resolution list is still mostly unchecked — and it's April TODO Fourth habit-tracker app this month — the first three already have broken streaks TODO Notion, Todoist, a planner, sticky notes, the back of an envelope, and a different list on each
20. TECHNIQUE 02 · FOR DELL An idea to help? Habit Building 02 / 04
21. “ All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits. — William James The Principles of Psychology, 1890
22. What is a habit? Just "something you do every day" A frequently recurring behavior that triggers when a cue is encountered then runs automatically.
23. // THE HABIT LOOP 💥 Cue → 🐁 → Routine ↑___________ reward reinforces the cue ___________↑ 🧀 Reward
24. // EXAMPLES 🥱 Wake up (cue) → 🪥 brush your teeth (habit) 🏢 Get to work (cue) → 📧 check email / Slack (habit) 😣 Get stressed (cue) → 🍪 grab a snack (habit) 🧠 Hit a hard problem (cue) → 🌐 open a new browser tab (habit)
25. How do you form a habit? 01 02 03 Identify your goal Create environmental triggers Define your reward
26. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
27. // IDENTIFY THE TRIGGER Look for something already in your routine, like: 🚿 🥣 🚗 Showering Eating breakfast Commuting
28. // A POSITIVE HABIT LOOP ☀ Cue sunrise → 🏃 Routine go for a run → 🎶 Reward your music
29. / / A N AT T E M P T I N G TO B E P O S I T I V E H A B I T L O O P ☀ Cue sunrise → 🏃💦 Routine go for a run → 😫 Reward NOT JOGGING
30. / / T H E N E G AT I V E H A B I T L O O P 😣 Cue stress → 📱 Routine doomscroll → 😫 Reward momentary escape
31. Tips for making a habit stick Find out what you like Have a habit buddy Keep score Make it hard not to do
32. Treat your habit like a sprint and hold a retro.
33. 🧑🎨 How will this help Dell? Resolutions unchecked since January → Mark them off one at a time Broken streaks across four apps → Habits build on habits — start small A resolution list a mile long, scattered everywhere → Tie each habit to one long-term goal
34. 👨🔧 Network Engineer Nick What's the struggle? FIXED "That's not really my area"... whenever anything outside his lane comes up FIXED Failed the cloud-cert practice exam once, hasn't rebooked FIXED A newer engineer just made tech lead, and the congrats message sits unsent in his drafts
35. TECHNIQUE 03 · FOR NICK A solution? Growth Mindset 03 / 04
36. // THE RESEARCH Abilities aren't fixed. They're grown. — Carol S. Dweck · Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
37. v 0.5 You are never at your final version.
38. Belief → Action → Growth
39. / / Q U E S T I O N S TO C H A L L E N G E " W H Y " Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why seek people who shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who challenge you to grow? Why choose the tried and true instead of experiences that stretch you?
40. Small changes, big difference.
41. Fixed vs Growth mindset I suck at math Math has been challenging for me I'll never be an artist I'm not satisfied with the art I've made yet I'm not good at handstands I haven't learned handstands yet
42. How to put it into practice 01 Accept you're not perfect, but you can improve 02 Change your perspective on failure and criticism 03 Focus on the process, not the end result 04 Learning fast != learning well
43. If you're discouraged, remember: "I'm just not good at this yet."
44. // IMPOSTER SYNDROME & MINDSET The internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud. It's just a mindset and it might be helped by focusing on growth. ref: xkcd.com/1954
45. 👨🔧 How will this help Nick? "That's not really my area" → Embrace challenges as learning opportunities Failed the cert once, hasn't rebooked → Only through perseverance do you learn Congrats message still unsent → Find lessons and inspiration in others' success
46. 👩💼 Product Manager Peyton What's the struggle? BUSY Her calendar is full BUSY 47 unread Slack threads, three red exclamation points, and she hasn't opened email yet BUSY Can't remember the last time she finished something that mattered
47. T E C H N I Q U E 0 4 · F O R P E Y TO N A solution? Deep Work Strategies 04 / 04
48. You are not losing a discipline contest. You are losing a design contest. — Johann Hari · Stolen Focus
49. The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable. — Cal Newport · Deep Work
50. Not all work is equal Deep Work Shallow Work Distraction-free. Cognitively demanding. Pushes your capability. Hard to replicate. Low cognitive demand. Done while distracted. Easy to replicate. Feels productive.
51. 23 minutes The average time to fully return to a task after a single interruption. — Gloria Mark, UC Irvine
52. We now self-interrupt, on average, every 47 sec — Gloria Mark, UC Irvine
53. // 9:02 AM · DEEP IN A HARD PROBLEM 🔔 Slack · 1 new message
54. // 9:04 AM 🔔 Slack · 3 new 📧 Email · 2 new 📅 Meeting in 10 min 💬 @here in #incidents
55. / / 9 : 0 7 A M · W H E R E WA S I ? 🔔 Slack · 9 📧 Email · 6 🔔 Slack · 12 ⚠ Alert fired 📅 Standup 📧 Email · 11 💬 @channel 🔴 PR review 📱 2 texts 🗓 Calendar invite
56. The urge to check Slack doesn't come from Slack. It comes from the discomfort of a hard problem.
57. / / D E S I G N T H E D AY 1 · Block your deep work first Schedule everything else around it 2 · Batch shallow work Into a few defined windows 3 · Protect the rest of the day
58. / / D E E P W O R K F I R S T — A D E S I G N E D D AY 9–11 am 🧐 Deep work — no Slack, no email, no standups 11–12 pm 📧 Shallow batch #1 — messages, email triage, quick reviews 12–1 pm 🍲 Actual lunch — away from the desk 1–3 pm 🗣 Meetings + collaboration 3–4 pm 📥 Shallow batch #2 — follow-ups, status, inbox 5ish 📝 Shutdown ritual — review, plan tomorrow, close the loop
59. // THE SHUTDOWN RITUAL · A GRACEFUL EXIT FOR YOUR BRAIN The shutdown ritual A fixed 5–15 min sequence that ends the workday. 01 02 03 04 Capture Review Look ahead Check the plan Sweep every loose task into one master list. Scan every list; set due dates on anything urgent. Check the calendar ~1-2 weeks out — no ambush deadlines. Glance at the weekly plan; note what actually got done. $ schedule shutdown, complete▋ The phrase is just the receipt, it only works because you did the accounting first.
60. A notification fires the same cognitive interrupt whether you read it or not.
61. 💥🔔💥 One ping. One context switch. One recovery cost.
62. 📵 Just turn them off.
63. 👩💼 How will this help Peyton? Her calendar is full → Still full but now designed with intention, in support of her goals 47 unread threads before she's opened email → One thing that matters, picked before the inbox got a vote Can't remember finishing something that mattered → She finished it this morning
64. / / Y O U R TO O L K I T 👩💻 Mindfulness → logging for your brain
65. / / Y O U R TO O L K I T → logging for your brain Mindfulness 👩💻 🧑🎨 Habit Building → a retro for your daily life
66. / / Y O U R TO O L K I T 👩💻 Mindfulness → logging for your brain 🧑🎨 Habit Building → a retro for your daily life 👨🔧 Growth Mindset → v1.0 is not your final release
67. / / Y O U R TO O L K I T 👩💻 Mindfulness → logging for your brain 🧑🎨 Habit Building → a retro for your daily life 👨🔧 Growth Mindset → v1.0 is not your final release → turning off interrupts for your focus Deep Work 👩💼
68. / / Y O U R TO O L K I T 👩💻 Mindfulness → logging for your brain 🧑🎨 Habit Building → a retro for your daily life 👨🔧 Growth Mindset → v1.0 is not your final release 👩💼 Deep Work → turning off interrupts for your focus
69. // SHIP ONE CHANGE Pick one. Start small. You don't have to stay stuck and you're never at your final version.
70. / / R E F E R E N C E S & F U RT H E R R E A D I N G Everything, in one place. christine-seeman.com/optimize-your-mindset-references
71. 👋👋👋👋 Thank you. Christine Seeman · Nebraska.Code() 2026
72. Mindfulness — resources Timeless Truths for Modern Mindfulness — Arnie Kozak Wherever You Go, There You Are — Jon Kabat-Zinn nickwignall.com/how-to-start-a-mindfulness-practice · mindful.org/jon-kabat-zinn-defining-mindfulness counterculturist.net/mindfulness-meditation-beginners · blogs.scientificamerican.com — what mindfulness does to your brain
73. Habit Building — resources Essential Zen Habits — Leo Babauta The Power of Habit — Charles Duhigg zenhabits.net/how-habits-are-formed · zenhabits.net/habit-motivations ucl.ac.uk — how long to form a habit · psychologytoday.com — the habit replacement loop
74. Growth Mindset — resources Mindset: The New Psychology of Success — Carol S. Dweck mindsetworks.com/science · ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5836039 · theconversation.com — growth-mindset interventions fs.blog/2015/03/caroldweck-mindset · hbr.org — what a growth mindset actually means · scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc/vol34/iss1/6
75. Deep Work — resources Deep Work — Cal Newport (2016) A World Without Email — Cal Newport (2021) Stolen Focus — Johann Hari (2022) Flow — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) Indistractable — Nir Eyal (2019) Attention Span — Gloria Mark (2023) Make Time — Knapp & Zeratsky (2018) Hyperfocus — Chris Bailey (2018) Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman (2021) Nicholas Carr — the original Atlantic essay