• Regina Grogan is a tech exec who says high stress once impacted her mental health and relationships.
• Grogan has developed nine daily habits that help her reduce stress and increase productivity.
• Grogan's methods include cold plunges, meditation, and gratitude lists for better mood.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Regina Grogan, a Zillennial technology executive, AI founder, and former Google consultant based in Salt Lake City. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I worked in high-stress Silicon Valley for over 10 years, including as a Google consultant, before transitioning to being an associate security engineer at one of the largest banks.

Working in the tech industry is stressful — it has extreme volatility, which has led me to feel anxious and depressed in the past. I've seen tech startups shut down very suddenly with zero discussion. I've also worked in big companies undergoing layoffs and wondered, "Am I next?"

High stress also impacted my relationships. My work took up a lot of my personal time, so I wasn't able to build as many relationships as I wish I had.

Over the years, I've discovered hacks to mitigate stress, boost my mood, and increase productivity. These are my favorites.

1. Cold plunge

I take a 15 to 20-minute ice bath or cold shower every morning. The first five minutes are awful and shocking. Then I acclimate to it, and it actually feels really good.

During the plunge, I feel extremely alert, the world looks brighter, and when I emerge, everything feels like a new beginning.

2. Meditation

I was very addicted to my digital devices until I noticed it was severely affecting my mental clarity and focus. Now I try to stay off my phone as much as possible in the morning, and instead, meditate for 25 minutes.

Ever since I made the switch, my mind has become quieter and I feel reset from the attention obsession that my digital devices create.

3. Increase my bodily awareness

I've realized I have to create balance in life by tuning into my body and intuition for guidance. I now listen more to my instincts.

One time, I was working on a partnership and felt physically uneasy while reviewing the terms. Looking back, I realize I was sensing a subconscious resistance in my body about this partnership, which ended up going south.

4. Take a walk without my phone

I often use my phone as an anxiety and comfort tool. The only way I've had luck mitigating this anxiety is by leaving my phone at home, coming back, and seeing that nothing horrible has happened.

5. Think about what I can and can't control

Let's say a vendor messes up a project, or the intern accidentally gets spam-attacked and is freaked out. Instead of panicking, I use the psychological strategy of the "circle of control," asking myself, "What can I control in this stressful situation?"

If the answer is nothing, I have to let it go.

6. Ask myself, "How can I help others today?"

Doing small acts of kindness helps me take the focus off of myself and redirect my energy toward helping others. This can be helping someone at work, volunteering, or simply letting someone in front of me in traffic.

At the end of the day, I can say, "Today didn't go super well, but I did something in my control to improve things."

7. Make a list of what I'm grateful for

I live a privileged life, and it's easy to forget how hard life is for many other people. In my case, I used to have depression. I've seen bad days, but it's easier to forget when I make a gratitude list.

When I zoom out, I can see how lucky I am and that I have a lot to be thankful for.

8. Epsom salt bath

Every evening, around 9 p.m., I take a hot Epsom salt bath. Epsom salt regulates the nervous system and also staves off loneliness — or so they found in some studies.

I do this as a "day ender" to help me officially close out the day. Otherwise, I'll keep working into the night.

9. Write down my worries and wait to review them

Before I go to sleep at 10 p.m., I write down everything I'm worrying about as a "brain dump." I put it in a box and revisit it a week later to see how many of them came to pass.

Almost none of them do. Over time, I've gained more confidence and calmness.

Ever since I started using these hacks, I've been in a great mood and more productive than ever

My colleagues always talk about my energy and good mood. These hacks allow me to be creative and productive at work, even in a stressful environment.

If you work in Big Tech and have productivity hacks you'd like to share, please email Tess Martinelli at [email protected].

• A few months ago, I started using an AI notetaking app, Granola, in meetings.
• I take notes and then after the call, the AI builds a more fulsome outline of the conversation.
• Taking notes on what's most important helps us get more from meetings, Granola's CEO said.

A few minutes after I'd hopped on a call with a tech founder, he mentioned that he'd started using an "amazing" AI notetaking app.

It was helping him capture the various decisions and to-do's that came up in the many meetings that punctuated his calendar.

I was intrigued. I'd tried artificial intelligence tools for summarizing interview notes and transcripts. The results were often great at capturing themes, yet the AI tended to sweep past the details, pithy comments, or intriguing ideas I would tend to highlight.

It was like getting a book report from someone who'd only skimmed the reading.

Not long after my call with the tech founder, I downloaded the app, which is called Granola, on my Mac. It's a desktop tool, for now. An iOS version is on its way and Windows after that.

I've been using Granola since midsummer, and it's changed my meetings. To be clear, I also use a different app to get a full recording of the call to ensure my reporting and quotes are accurate. But what delighted the founder who tipped me off to Granola is also what I like best: I get to shape the outline for the notes that the AI generates.

My kind of notes

When I began using it, I allowed Granola to synch with my calendar. A few minutes before, I get a prompt to join a meeting. When the call begins, I then get permission from whomever I'm talking with to record the conversation. (Granola also has a prompt that pops up at the bottom that reminds users to get the OK to transcribe calls.)

The notetaking window in Granola is pretty much a blank page, which I like because it's a clean UX. I can drop in a title or use the one populated by what's on my calendar.

Once things begin, I only type what's most important, and the AI follows my lead. I can type just a few words and know that, after the call, with a click, Granola will build an outline around the points I flagged.

That's a huge help and different from the summaries I often get from other AI tools. Plus, I also always look back at the untidy notes I took in case something in the AI version feels off.

If I take no notes at all — which is rare — Granola will still deliver a pretty sharp summary complete with subheads and bullets.

The biggest benefit for me is that I worry less about scribbling down each thing that I might later deem important. In essence, I can be more present.

That's a frequent comment from users, Chris Pedregal, Granola's CEO, told me over a call in which we each took notes with the app.

In fact, given the whac-a-mole way many of us work — quickly triaging the messages that bombard us throughout the day — AI notetaking apps could have our back.

Pedregal said he was surprised when the company began hearing from users that they'll often zone out during a meeting to respond to an urgent Slack or WhatsApp message, then go back to Granola and pop up the transcript to read what they missed.

That's notable, in part, because in a recent survey, 57% of Granola users reported being in leadership roles. Pedregal said that supports the narrative that many top execs might be more excited about AI than some rank-and-file workers.

Pedregal, 38, cofounded Granola in March 2023. He's from the US, though he and the company's staff are based in London. Granola is focused on the American market and has US investors, he said. The company recently completed a $20 million Series A round. Google acquired Pedregal's prior startup, Socratic, in 2018.

Finding the sweet spot

The benefit of having an AI notetaker, I've found, is more than knowing I don't have to worry as much about details in the moment (though I'll always double-check afterward). Pedregal said the reason the app doesn't record audio is to make it less invasive.

The things I type are often the points that stand out because they're unique — or questionable — and that I want to think or ask more about.

Pedregal says jotting down a few notes during a meeting — but not being slavish about capturing everything — is the sweet spot. Unless we're trying to multitask, that middle path often enough, he said, to keep us tethered to the conversation and engaged with what speakers are saying.

I admit I've felt good while in meetings on busy days knowing that the safety net is there.