Layla Shaikley has built an unusually nonlinear career. She completed gruelling studies in architecture (twice!) with the objective of contributing to post-war reconstruction of Iraq. She was an unlikely candidate for programs at NASA and MIT but got herself in anyway. She then landed her dream job at UN Habitat, went to Iraq to work on the reconstruction and decided it wasn't the right role for her. She went on to co-found a successful tech company Wise Systems and become a writer and creator with a huge following on multiple platforms.

Along the way she has had to navigate stereotypes, rejection, public scrutiny, and the pressure to fit into other people's ideas of who she should be.

In this episode we talk about:

• What boredom taught her about creativity
• Overreach and applying for things you're "not qualified" for
• Rewriting the stories people make up about us
• Learning to tolerate rejection and embarrassment
• Walking away from a dream job, and choosing what not to become
• Confidence, Capacity, and Creating more "surface area" for luck

Mentioned in this episode

• "How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area" by Jason C. Roberts
• "The Red Sneakers Effect" by Silvia Bellezza, Francesca Gino and Anat Keinan, Journal of Consumer Research.
• "The Surprising Lessons of the 'Muslim Hipsters' Backlash" by Layla Shaikley, The Atlantic
• "The cost of success is embarrassment" by Layla Shaikley
• The Confident Mind by Dr. Nate Zinsser
• The Stimulated Mind by Dr. Tommy Wood
• Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Follow Layla

• Substack: laylool.substack.com
• Website: laylashaikley.com
• Instagram and TikTok: @laylool