In Your Shoes podcast: Learn about professions and get inspired by career stories

The podcast aims to introduce to the listener a new profession and a job with every episode. I interview people like you and me who have been practitioners in their field of expertise, and try to unravel why they do what they do. In this process, I will be able to expose the real stories behind those professions and help the listener build empathy and understanding. Why am I doing this ? I ran into this idea when I was reading the 2nd edition of the Great Mental models from Farnam Street author Shane Parrish. This edition covers the principles from basic sciences - Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and in that process identifies the way these standard principles could be used to influence decision making in real life. This intrigued me to figure out what if I could really know the jobs and professions beyond my own, really knowing what it takes to practice that, and thus finding out gems of inspiration and unique understanding of the world that can influence my thinking. I would love to understand the job of an Emergency Rescue, a Public Transport driver, an Architect responsible for building a new building, City planners, Financial trader and more. Imagine getting to know real stories behind these professions, and what made the person pursue these as part of their life trajectory. I am aware that applying ideas from multiple disciplines really expands your mind, and allows you to consider opportunities and options that would have not been accessible to you. Multi-disciplinary thinking and having a broad view of the world and how it operates is a key element to make good decisions in life. The other reason for pursuing this is to really break stereotypes and perceptions about other professions. I would love to have people deeply care and empathize with the complexities and challenges of a particular profession and thus see them on an equal level playing field. This will not only create an even world, but provide inspiration to people who want to pursue new grounds at any age. How am I planning to do this ? With each episode, I try to figure out the life trajectory of the person that led them to pick up a profession. Knowing that helps me as a host to understand the motivations - both intrinsic and extrinsic behind their decision to adopt a profession. I ask the guest about their day to day work and the nuances that often are lost in translation. I also ask my guests to share ideas that can help others interested to pursue their profession, especially highlighting the experiences one should have that will set them up for success. Each episode is around 30 min, with potential follow ups to go deeper into a profession based on the feedback.