AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Huberman Lab
Dr. Maya Shankar: How to Shape Your Identity & Goals
Jul 24, 2023
02:31:26
Episode guests
AI Summary
Highlights
AI Chapters
Episode notes
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Redefining identity after setbacks leads to new passions and pursuits.
- Framing goals with an approach orientation boosts motivation and achievement.
- Having ownership and agency over goals enhances intrinsic drive and satisfaction.
- Seeking diverse input and feedback overcomes groupthink and promotes personal growth.
- Being in like-minded groups can be helpful for motivation, but it's important to challenge our thinking.
- Empathy bridges gaps between people with different beliefs and protects against burnout.
Deep dives
Discovering Identity Through Passion
As a young child, Dr. Maya Shankar fell in love with the violin and devoted herself to playing. She experienced intrinsic motivation and was driven by her passion. However, during her teenage years, she faced self-doubt and comparison to other highly talented musicians. Despite these challenges, she achieved success and even got accepted into Juilliard, further solidifying her identity as a violinist.
Facing a Career-Ending Injury
At the age of 15, Dr. Maya Shankar suffered a career-ending injury to her finger, which shattered her dreams of becoming a professional violinist. This experience was devastating for her, as the violin had become such a major part of her identity and life. She went through a period of feeling lost and unsure of who she was without the instrument.
Reframing Identity and Finding New Paths
In the aftermath of her injury, Dr. Maya Shankar gradually redefined her identity and discovered new passions and pursuits. She learned to anchor her identity to her intrinsic characteristics, such as her curiosity, desire for progress, and love for human connection. This shift allowed her to explore new avenues and adapt to change, ultimately leading her to a successful career in cognitive science and podcasting.
Lessons Learned: Resilience, Curiosity, and Growth
Dr. Maya Shankar's journey highlights the importance of resilience, curiosity, and the ability to embrace change. She emphasizes the value of finding the core aspects of oneself that transcend specific pursuits or roles. By identifying and focusing on intrinsic traits and motivations, individuals can navigate life's twists and turns, maintain a sense of self, and find fulfillment in various endeavors.
Framing goals: Approach vs. Avoidance orientation
Framing goals in terms of an approach orientation, focusing on what to do or achieve, leads to higher motivation, perseverance, and feelings of pride and accomplishment. Conversely, framing goals in an avoidance orientation, focusing on what to avoid, leads to feelings of calm and relief when successful. It is important to carefully define goals and consider the framing to maximize motivation and success.
Ownership of goals and agency
Having a sense of ownership and agency over goals is crucial for motivation and success. When individuals have control and choice in setting their goals and targets, it boosts their intrinsic drive and satisfaction. Incorporating choice and personal input into goal-setting, whether at work, with trainers, or in everyday life, enhances motivation and increases the likelihood of success.
The influence of groupthink
Groupthink is the tendency for individuals within a like-minded group to conform to the majority opinion and limit critical thinking or diverse perspectives. When surrounded by people with similar beliefs, individuals can be influenced to adopt the group's views without question. This can hinder individual motivation, independent thinking, and creativity, leading to missed opportunities for growth and progress.
Seeking diverse input and feedback
To overcome the dangers of groupthink and enhance motivation, seeking diverse input and feedback is essential. Engaging with people who have different perspectives and opinions can challenge our own beliefs, increase self-awareness, and provide valuable insights. Actively seeking out uncomfortable connections and conversations can lead to personal growth and enable us to fill gaps in our self-awareness.
The Importance of Being in Like-Minded Spaces
Being in the context of like-minded people can be helpful for goals and motivation. It increases the belief that goals are achievable. However, there is a danger in only being in echo chambers, as it limits our frame of mind. To challenge our thinking, we can imagine how our beliefs might be different if born in a different time or family.
The Influence of Group Membership on Perceptions
Our group affiliations shape our beliefs about the world. People tend to favor their own group and their judgment is biased by their affiliation. When in disagreement with someone, bombarding them with facts is not effective. Understanding the underlying factors that drive someone's beliefs can lead to more fruitful discussions.
The Role of Empathy in Changing Minds
Empathy can bridge gaps between people with different beliefs. Cognitive empathy and empathic concern are crucial. People have different ways of expressing empathy, and all types are valuable. Building empathy can protect against burnout. By understanding how our minds work, we can extend empathy to others and have more productive conversations.
30.
How to Motivate Veterans to Sign Up for Employment and Educational Assistance Programs
2min
In this episode, my guest is Maya Shankar, Ph.D., a cognitive scientist, former senior advisor to the White House and Chair of the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. She is the creator and host of the podcast, A Slight Change of Plans. We discuss how our identities develop and change, how our beliefs and internal narratives shape our perception of self, and how to use structured introspection about our values to determine our goals. We discuss how to cope and grow through uncertain situations, especially those that force us to reexamine our roles and identity. Dr. Shankar shares her experience of redefining her identity after an early career-ending setback. She also explains numerous science-based strategies to effectively define goals, structure our goal pursuits and maintain consistent motivation. This episode provides a science-supported toolkit and roadmap to assess your identity and goals and positively transform in the face of change.
For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com.
Use Ask Huberman Lab, our new AI-powered platform, for a summary, clips, and insights from this episode.
Thank you to our sponsors
AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman
LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab
Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman
Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Dr. Maya Shankar
(00:02:53) Sponsors: LMNT & Waking Up
(00:05:15) Identity Foreclosure, Identity Paralysis, Throughlines
(00:12:10) Identity & Adolescence; “Essence” & Shame
(00:16:58) Delight & Awe
(00:23:00) Delight & Possibilities for Self
(00:29:28) Playing Violin, Childhood
(00:35:17) Sponsor: AG1
(00:35:58) Intrinsic Motivation; Juilliard & Courage
(00:45:43) Competitive Environments; Curiosity & Growth
(00:53:46) Re-Creating of Self
(01:00:51) Pop-Science, Science Accessibility
(01:06:32) Passions & Curiosity
(01:13:20) Change, Cognitive Closure, End-of-History Illusion
(01:22:29) Self-Awareness & Critical Feedback
(01:30:48) Tools: Flexible Mindset; Reframing & Venting; Gratitude
(01:40:13) Tool: Framing Goals
(01:47:13) Tool: Agency in Goal Pursuit
(01:52:25) Tool: Like-Minded People & Goal Pursuit; Challenging Beliefs
(02:01:27) Cultivating Open-Mindedness & Empathy
(02:08:15) Building Self Narratives: Empathy, Burnout
(02:13:56) Tools: Goal Setting
(02:19:54) Tool: “Middle Problem”, Maintaining Motivation
(02:24:55) Tool: Aversion & Memory, Peak-End Rule
(02:31:41) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media
Get the Snipd
podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any
moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share
& Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode