Dr. Maya Shankar: Transform Your Mindset to Navigate Life’s Biggest Changes in 2026 | Human Behavior | E381

Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)

YAP Media Network

Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Maya Shankar experienced devastating identity loss twice. First, a sudden injury ended her dreams of becoming a professional violinist; later, repeated miscarriages shattered her vision of motherhood. These losses forced her to confront how deeply she had tied her self-worth to specific roles and imagined futures. Drawing from cognitive science and human psychology, she learned to redefine her identity beyond self-imposed labels. In this episode, Maya explores the psychology of change, revealing why we experience “identity paralysis” when unexpected changes occur, and how we can use that to our advantage. In this episode, Hala and Dr. Maya will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (02:59) Understanding Identity Paralysis (07:21) The Science Behind Change (17:00) Unlocking Potential Future Selves (24:09) The Difference Between Resilience and Reinvention (33:14) How Change Reshapes Values and Beliefs (36:56) Self-Affirmation Exercises That Boost Positivity (40:40) The Change Toolkit: Navigating Life Transitions (57:16) Navigating the Messy Middle of Change (01:00:34) Mastering Career Pivots and Starting Fresh Dr. Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans. She serves as Senior Director of Behavioral Economics at Google and previously founded the White House Behavioral Science Team under President Obama as a Senior Advisor. A Rhodes Scholar with a Ph.D. from Oxford and a B.A. from Yale, Dr. Maya completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford. Her new book, The Other Side of Change, explores the psychology and stories behind life’s most disruptive transitions. Sponsored By: Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/PROFITING Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Spectrum Business - Visit Spectrum.com/FreeForLife to learn how you can get Business Internet Free Forever. Northwest Registered Agent - Build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes at northwestregisteredagent.com/paidyap Framer - Publish beautiful and production-ready websites. Go to Framer.com/profiting and get 30% off their Framer Pro annual plan. Intuit QuickBooks - Start the new year strong and take control of your cash flow at QuickBooks.com/money Quo - Run your business communications the smart way. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com/profiting Working Genius - Take the Working Genius assessment and discover your natural gifts and thrive at work. Go to workinggenius.com and get 20% off with code PROFITING Resources Mentioned: Dr. Maya's Book, The Other Side of Change: bit.ly/TOSOC Dr. Maya's Podcast, A Slight Change of Plans: bit.ly/ASCOP-apple Dr. Maya’s Instagram: instagram.com/drmayashankar Dr. Maya's Website: mayashankar.com Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Newsletter - youngandprofiting.co/newsletter LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Startup, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, Habits, Human Nature, Critical Thinking, Robert Greene, Chris Voss, Robert Cialdini

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode is sponsored in part by Shopify Indeed, Intuit, Frammer, Quo, Working Genius, Spectrum Business, and Northwest Registered Agent.
0:08.1	Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business.
0:11.7	Start a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash profiting.
0:16.2	Attract, interview, and hire all in one place with Indeed.
0:19.0	Get a $75-sponsored job credit to boost your job's
0:22.0	visibility at Indeed.com slash profiting. Start the New Year's strong, take control of your cash flow with
0:27.3	quickbooks money tools. Learn more at quickbooks.com slash money. Publish beautiful and production-ready
0:32.5	websites with Framer. Get started building for free today at Framer.com slash profiting for 30% off a Framer
0:38.6	pro annual plan. Quo is the smarter way to run your business communications. Try Quo for free, plus
0:44.1	get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com slash profiting. Working Genius helps
0:49.0	you fill gaps in your organization. Take the working genius assessment and get 20% off
0:53.6	with code profiting at
0:54.7	WorkingGenius.com.
0:56.0	Keep your business connected with fast and reliable internet, phone, TV, and mobile
0:59.9	services from Spectrum Business.
1:02.0	Visit Spectrum.com slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever.
1:07.0	Northwest Registered Agent gives you the tools and guidance you need to build a complete
1:10.7	business identity. Visit Northwest Registeredagent. the tools and guidance you need to build a complete business
1:11.1	identity. Visit Northwest Registeredagent.com slash yapfrey and start building something amazing.
1:17.2	As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at young and profiting.com
1:21.3	slash deals.
1:22.8	One way that we can get out of identity paralysis is to define yourself not simply by what you do,
	...

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