I also started with the Waking up introductory course. I took 10 min of my lunch break every work day and practiced, I wasn't so good on the weekends.

I am not sure if I can give definitive answers to all the ways how It's affected me, but I recognize more often when I've gone into autopilot

I read something that helped me keep going, can't remember the source so I'll paraphrase: Meditation is like showering. You have to keep doing it for the affects to stay