Quick Cut: S2E291 A Slight Change of Plans with Dr. Maya Shankar
It's a Good Life
Brian Buffini
4.4 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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We all encounter a change of plan at some point in our lives. In this episode, Brian interviews cognitive scientist Dr. Maya Shankar to understand who we are and who we become when faced with change. Topics discussed include: How change profoundly impacted Maya’s life, why humility is so important and how being more openminded can help build resilience.
YOU WILL LEARN:
· Common psychological strategies for navigating change.
· Why people really dislike uncertainty.
· How to cultivate a mindset to thrive in change.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
“The Language Instinct,” by Steven Pinker
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“The specifics of this moment may be unprecedented. But our human ability to navigate change is nothing new.” – Dr. Maya Shankar
“There is a universality in the way that we as humans navigate change.” – Maya Shankar
“Change in one area of our lives often has profound spill-over effects into other areas of our lives that we simply can't predict at the outset.” – Maya Shankar
“At a minimum, there will be growth because change necessarily involves a loss of identity of some kind.” – Maya Shankar
“When you are more openminded, you are seeking awe and that actually helps you cultivate a more resilient personality in the face of change.” – Maya Shankar
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to It's a Good Life with Brian Bafini, founder of America's largest business coaching company. |
| 0:10.4 | Here's a short classic cut from one of our all-time favorite episodes. |
| 0:18.1 | Well, top of the morning to you and welcome to It's a Good Life. |
| 0:38.3 | I am so excited for you guys today. We have a very, very special guest. Her name is Dr. Meyer Shunker, and she is a cognitive neuroscientist, as well as the host of the podcast, a slight change of plans. So, Maya, welcome to the show. Thanks for making time for us today. Oh, thanks so much for having me, Brian. |
| 0:43.2 | It's a pleasure to be here. You're going from Juilliard to a private student of Itzac Perlman. |
| 0:48.7 | The career is set. The path is here. And I know you've pushed back against the term prodigy because you dug it out of the dirt, as they say, you worked hard for your place in life, but you had an injury that caused a, |
| 0:55.0 | basically your trajectory for your whole career, your dreams, your path, changes almost in an |
| 0:59.6 | instant. |
| 1:00.4 | You're absolutely right. I felt like I was on the up and up and everything was aligning and I |
| 1:03.5 | had this very naive moment of like, ah, you know, finally everything's fallen into place. |
| 1:09.7 | I have total control. I can see the future very |
| 1:13.1 | clearly. It's going to involve my being a professional violinist. And then I had my quote, |
| 1:17.9 | slight change of plans, which is, you know, what my podcast is slight change of plans is actually |
| 1:21.6 | inspired by, where in a moment, I tore a tendon in my hand. And despite resisting doctor's |
| 1:27.3 | guidance for months, was eventually told |
| 1:29.1 | that I could never play the violin again. And I just remember feeling so disoriented by that loss |
| 1:34.0 | because it was only when the violin was taken away from me that I realized just how much it had defined me. |
| 1:39.5 | That without it, I felt like I, you know, I lost this instrument, but I lost myself. I lost such a large part of who I was. And it took me a long time to figure out how to ground myself again and figure out who I could be without the violin. And so what that experience taught me is that I had to start to see my identity as more malleable as something that could change over time. And importantly, I learned that it might be more |
| 2:02.4 | stable and sturdy to attach my identity not to any specific pursuits like the violin, but instead |
| 2:08.1 | to the features of that pursuit that really lit me up that got me to tick. When it came to |
| 2:12.5 | the violin, is that the thing that really energized me at the end of the day was the ability |
| 2:16.0 | to emotionally connect with other people. |
... |
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