Can we really change our personalities? On this episode of the Being Well Podcast, Forrest is joined by someone who’s actually tried most of the things we talk about on the podcast related to how to change your personality: journalist and author Olga Khazan. Olga shares the personal experiments that led to her becoming more extroverted and agreeable, and less neurotic. They discuss the Big Five personality traits, how behavior shapes identity, the role of self-concept, authenticity, and some of the common challenges people face when trying to change a core aspect of who they are.
About Our Guest: Olga Khazan is a writer at The Atlantic, where she covers health, culture, and the complexities of human behavior. She’s the author of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World and her new book Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change.
Key Topics:
- 0:00: Introduction to How to Change Your Personality
- 1:15: Olga’s personal background with personality change
- 5:20: Age, extroversion, self-concept, and Olga’s improv classes
- 10:10: Unconditional positive regard, meditation, and mindfulness
- 20:55: Trying on different traits, and acceptance vs. change
- 24:25: Conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and individualism
- 36:20: Changing at the ‘trait level’, and the changes Olga has embraced most
- 43:50: Psychedelics, non-self, and identifying what’s really true
- 53:50: Nature vs. nurture and the aspects we can’t change
- 56:30: Parenting and personality change
- 1:02:05: Recap
Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.
