Psychology Workshop - Your Inner Operating System: The Science of Resilience, Balance & Meaning
In Silicon Valley, everyone is optimizing something. Almost no one is optimizing the person doing the optimizing.
You moved here — or you came for a season — because this is where things happen fast. And they do. The pace is real, the ambition is real, the opportunity is real. So is the cost.
The comparison that starts the moment you open LinkedIn. The sense that you are playing several roles well — founder, engineer, partner, the child of parents twelve time zones away — while slowly losing track of which one is actually you.
Most of us respond by working harder. Psychology suggests that people don't burn out only from workload. They burn out from working hard on things they can no longer connect to anything they care about. When the connection breaks, effort stops compounding — it just drains.
Three guided exercises, two hours: mapping the values your past actually revealed, choosing the one goal worth the next six months, and working backward from the end of your life.
Who this is for
Founders and early-stage operators who can articulate their company's strategy far better than their own Engineers, PMs, and researchers in the Valley wondering what "success" is supposed to feel like once you have it Anyone in a career transition, a visa-shaped decision, or a "should I stay or go home" season People who are functioning fine and want to be more than functioning
No psychology background required.
20+ peer-reviewed papers underpin the curriculum — Every exercise traces to a specific finding. Built and rebuilt 5+ times across live sessions in Taiwan and Malaysia, revised on participant data each round. Designed by a psychology team — NTU Psychology PhD and counseling background. This is applied psychology for people who are well and want to be deliberate.
What you take home
AI Meaning Coach — the workshop's entire psychological framework, turned into a companion you can actually talk to.
MindGym app access — every exercise you do in the room, in your pocket afterward.
Your wellbeing assessment — a PERMA-based measure of where your wellbeing actually sits across five dimensions.
Agenda
1:30–2:00 PM · Registration & Networking (Refreshments provided)
2:00–2:05 PM · Opening Remarks
2:05–4:00 PM · Workshop & Open Networking
About PSY by PSY
PSY by PSY is a psychology team from National Taiwan University building AI-powered mental wellness tools for mental health professionals. We also deliever 80+ workshops, 1,500+ participants across Taiwan, Malaysia, and now Silicon Valley.
We're in the Bay Area this summer through NTU's Global Innovation Program.
About Startup Island TAIWAN - Silicon Valley Hub
Startup Island TAIWAN is a national initiative supporting Taiwanese startups expanding globally. Located in Palo Alto, the Silicon Valley Hub connects founders with investors, corporate partners, and innovation ecosystems while serving as a bridge between Taiwan and Silicon Valley.
The Hub regularly hosts events, delegation visits, founder programs, and ecosystem gatherings that strengthen collaboration between Taiwan's technology ecosystem and the global innovation community.