35: Maya Shankar | What Happens To Us When, Change Happens To Us

#35: Change is going to happen to us. Either it will force itself like the pandemic or an injury, or we’ll make it happen by trying to lose weight or start a business. What happens to us when we change? As you’re about to hear, there are often great and terrible consequences. I bring you Maya Shankar. Maya is a cognitive scientist and former Obama White House Senior Advisor. Maya actually founded the Behavioral Science Team at the White House, called “the Nudge Unit, which used insights from behavioral economics to write better public policy. Pushkin Industries is a podcast platform cofounded by Malcolm Gladwell and they brought Maya in to host a new podcast called, Slight Change of Plans. From the interviews Maya has conducted it’s altered her personal view of change, as she’s seen so many people proactively pursue change and succeed, yet testify to negative consequences they didn’t anticipate. Like the girl who lost 100 lbs and realized she was no longer who she was and who she liked, and she was disappointed at people’s new behavior to her just because she lost weight. And the health nut who got cancer and from it realized if he’d understood what dealing with cancer did for his mindset, he wouldn’t have feared it so much. Join me as I have a very candid discussion with Maya on the ins and outs of what happens to us when change...happens. And find her new podcast, A Slight Change of Plans, wherever you get your podcasts.