Presented at UX Brighton 2019, 1st November 2019

1. Rolling with the
punches

2. Hello!
I am Liz Citron
I am a UX veteran turned confidence and career coach
You can find me at @lizcitron
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3. Life in a digital world
Making others life easier doesn’t mean an easy life for us.

4. Stuff happens
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Inconsistent project sponsorship
Secrecy surrounding
projects
Office
politics
Career disappointments
Poor behavior

5. Things move fast
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What we are called
What we do
What we know

6. Result?
● Punished for doing the right thing
● Burn out
● Disillusionment
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7. Resilience
Staying flexible and positive under pressure

8. What is
resilience?
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Physical
Mental
Emotional
Social
Credit: Smashicons @ flaticon.com

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We have 3 brains
Primate (neocortex)
Mammalian (limbic)
Reptilian (brain stem)

10. What can
you do?
Five things you can do at home that research tells us will help you stay
more flexible and positive under pressure
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11. Soak up positive
feelings
Positive feelings can
● improve people’s ability to cope
● shrug off colds
● depression
● improve general health.
Think of three people that think you are
great. Immerse yourself in the feeling of
their respect and admiration for you
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12. Find your power
pose
Amy Cuddy discovered that the
mind can be led by the body.
Striking powerful positions and
carrying yourself regally sets you
up to come across as more
powerful and confident.
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13. Calm your
monkey mind
1.5 hours of mindfulness practice
can lead to positive structural
changes in the brain.
Learning to observe your thoughts
and separate them from yourself
can
● reduce stress
● ward off cancer
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14. Find your why
Having a purpose or ikigai (reason
for being) can:
● keep you healthy
● help you live longer
● ward off alzheimer's
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15. Tell your story
When you think of something that
happened to you that you have
always thought of as negative, can
you tell it to yourself in a positive
way? Can you find the silver
lining?
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16. Embedding habits
B J Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach:
1. Pick a good tiny behavior
2. Find a stable habit* (anchor) to trigger the new behavior
3. Celebrate!
* needs to be in your control, so not something that happens to you
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17. “ “When one door of happiness
closes, another opens; but often we
look so long at the closed door that
we do not see the one which has
been opened for us.”
Helen Keller (1880-1969), deaf-blind author and political activist
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Thanks!
You can find me at @lizcitron & hello@lizcitron.com
Get in touch for a complimentary coaching session