So imagine this.
You're so drawn to something as a kid, it consumes most of your waking hours.
It rapidly becomes your identity, and it's even the thing that you believe that you'll devote your entire life to.
And then, in the blink of an.
Eye, it's all taken away.
Well, that's what happened to Maya Shankar, who fell in love with the violin as a small child.
She studied it with so much love and passion and devotion, was even being mentored by the legendary Itzhak Perelman, and was sure it would be her profession for life until an injury took it all away in the blink of an eye.
How that moment affected her and how she'd eventually discover an entirely new, yet equally fulfilling devotion just a few years later.
In the field of human behavior and cognitive science is a big part of today's conversation, along with a deep dive into how our brains work and how we change our minds, which is especially important now.
So Maya is currently the senior director of behavioral economics at Google and is also the creator, host, and executive producer of a slight change of plans, which is a podcast with Pushkin Industries.
Maya previously served as a senior advisor in the Obama White House, where she founded and served as chair of the White House's behavioral science team, which was this team of scientists charged with improving public policy using research insights about human behavior.
She's been profiled everywhere from the New Yorker and has been featured in New York Times, Scientific American, Forbes, and NPR.
Is all things considered, freakonomics, hidden brain, and more.
And we dive into it all today.
In this fabulous and eye opening conversation.
Cannot wait to share it with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is a good life project.
There's so many different places I want to go with you.
I'm fascinated by parts of your story, some of the decisions you made, and for sure, the work that you've really been drawn to for, really a lot of years.
Now.