Taking care of yourself at Makers
Nurturing yourself, your brain and your code
We’ve got a special human joining this blog — Dana, Chief Joy Officer at Makers. We discuss some of the tactics and tools that successful Makers students use to support their learning.
Dana’s role is three-in-one, she is the:
1. Holistic coach for students and staff hosting 1:1 and group sessions for emotional and mental wellbeing
2. In house yoga teacher, running Vinyasa sessions twice per week
3. Meditation teacher, taught daily which is coupled with an emotional intelligence curriculum
Alex: Dana, thanks for taking the time! First question is around balance. It can be a stressful environment here, what do you say to students looking to integrate hard work with rest?
Dana: Hey! There are a few parts to this, first of all, all students are encouraged to take regular breaks. That’s why we have ping pong tables and breakout spaces. We also have daily meditation and yoga to get students away from their screens.
For students who don’t want to participate in these activities they’re encouraged to do something else which resonates for them like going to the gym or running.
It tends to be the way that students who have some kind of regular routine which nourishes the body do better in terms of overall wellbeing and stamina over the course.
Alex: Ok. Is there anything you’d recommend students do before they arrive to make the most of the course?
Dana. Absolutely. Number one, read as much about the course and former and current students as you can. Read the blogs, reach out to alumni and build a picture of what it’s like.
Second, come with an open mind. We generally refer to this as a ‘growth mindset’.
Alex: Could you expand on that a little bit?
Dana: Sure. You could say it’s about how we limit ourselves and our reactions when we come up against difficulties. For example, from a fixed mindset when we come up against something that we find difficult it doesn’t mean it’s not for us, just that we’re finding it difficult at the moment. Our brains are plastic and applying yourself with consistent practice and taking small steps will, with time, yield results.
This frame of mind is particularly important with students here. It’s a challenging course with quite high demands and feelings of overwhelm are not uncommon. If you can make peace with your journey and apply some of the examples of self-care I mentioned earlier this will stand you in good stead.
Alex: Fantastic. Any other traits that successful students share?
Dana: Yeah, I’d also add that a good dash of positivity helps. Not in a surface, pretending-everything-is-alright way, but in a deeper commitment to yourself and the decision you’ve made to come here. It links closely with being kind to yourself. When things are difficult, the phrase ‘this too shall pass’ comes to mind. Along these lines we often say at Makers, ‘getting comfortable with being uncomfortable’.
So the question is can you be ok with the discomfort? In practice this involves noticing feelings of frustration or whatever and not holding on to them. If you can do this I’ve seen this attitude build self-confidence for students and also trust in their own abilities.
Alex. Great. And on the flipside is there anything you’ve seen which holds students back?
Dana. Aside from doing the opposite of everything I just said :), yeah, there are a couple of things. The main one would be being too militant with yourself. We can become overzealous with trying to ram everything into the day so that our routine becomes a rod for our backs. Don’t martyr yourself to your schedule, allow some time to just be. If you become too strict with your ritual it’s no longer supportive. If you don’t feel like doing something then that’s ok. Listening to what’s needed at that particular time is a kind of wisdom, similar to intuition.
Patience is another one. The course has its own rhythm which takes a while to get used to so you can expect to feel somewhat seasick to begin with. It’s takes a bit of time to get your sea-legs, maybe up to four weeks, but really, you never get used to it :)
Also don’t compare yourself with others! It’s pretty much impossible not too but it not only makes you feel rubbish it’s a drain on your energy and focus. The less you do it the more you can focus on yourself and ultimately, that’s what will serve you best for the course.
Alex: Wise words! Taking a slight detour, I’m interested in creativity and coding. Programming is a problem solving exercise and the harder the problem the more creativity is needed. Do you have any thoughts on how we can become more creative?
Dana. I love that question! The knee jerk response is to equate creativity with art. And often people rule themselves out of the creative bucket immediately without thinking more carefully about what it means to be creative. The fact is we’re all creative and the benefits of flexing our creative muscle will flow into how you interact with others, how you interact with yourself and also how you program. It’s easy to fall into a routine of being hyper-productive as a student here. Of course everyone wants to squeeze every last drop from the 12 weeks. But what’s important to remember is the idea of balance. Being constantly in ‘productive’ mode is a narrow expression of our full potential. We want to bring our full selves to programming and so in order to best express our thinking in code we can seek ways to express ourselves outside of being a developer — it’s all linked. I would encourage anyone looking into this further to read ‘The Art of Creative Thinking’ as a good place to start. We can be creative with being creative — it could be as simple as cooking a meal once per week to making time to practice an instrument to just doodling for 15 minutes each day.
Alex: Good stuff. Okay, last question. Do you have any routines that you keep to?
Dana. Yep, I’ve got some morning and evening rituals. Sometimes I switch them up but most days it’s pretty similar. Touching on what I said earlier about not straitjacketing yourself into modes of behaviour I won’t always do them, but I enjoy them, so I nearly always do them :)
I’m a fan of morning routines when you’re a blank slate for the day. The first thing I do when I wake up is to smile — it makes me feel happy. It sounds silly but there is some research behind it, Amy Cuddy talks more about it her book Presence. It doesn’t cost me anything and it works! I’ll then write a quick entry in my journal about something I’m grateful for. This is followed by 10–15 minutes of exercise to get my heart rate up which might involve some cardio, yoga or dancing. And I’ll wrap up with 10–15 minutes meditation. Finally, in the evenings I’ll usually do a brain dump into my journal.
Alex: Great! Thanks Dana :)
Dana: My pleasure!
