If you think about it, your personality impacts how you approach your life. The choices you make, the risks you take, the relationships you have. Our personalities create a set of habits, automatic reactions that impact what we think, feel, and do.

When we take on new roles, like becoming a manger or a parent, we may find that certain aspects of our personality no longer work for us. As a leader, we may need to be more extroverted, more open. As a parent, more patient, less reactive. But can we become those things? Can we change specific aspects of our personalities?

That’s the question Olga Khazan wanted to answer. She’s the author of the book, Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change. Through her research – numerous interviews with scientists and practitioners – as well as experiments she ran with herself on the road to becoming a parent – she learned we can. And that’s a game changer for anyone who has dreams of doing or being something different.

Related Links

Interview with Hal Hershfield

The Big 5 Personality Traits You Can Change with Practice

I’m Disagreeable – and It’s Backed by Science. Can I Change My Personality?

The Team

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