Elevate with Robert Glazer Elevate Classics: Olga Khazan on Changing Your Personality
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Aug 21, 2025 
Olga Khazan, a Staff writer for The Atlantic and author of 'Me, But Better', shares her journey of changing her personality. She dives into the Big Five personality traits, detailing how childhood experiences shape them. Olga discusses transforming introversion to extroversion through engaging challenges and the role of meditation in overcoming social anxiety. The conversation highlights the balance between authenticity and social conformity, and the importance of personal motivation in relationships and growth. Tune in for insightful perspectives on self-improvement!
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Meltdown That Sparked Change
- Olga describes a meltdown on an otherwise pleasant vacation day that made her reassess her reactions.
- That moment sparked her project to change traits that blocked presence and gratitude.
Start With A Big Five Baseline
- Measure your baseline with a validated Big Five test like the one on personalityassessor.com.
- Use the resulting OCEAN scores to target specific traits to change.
Traits Are Spectrums Not Types
- Personality traits are continuous spectra, not fixed types like Myers-Briggs.
- You sit somewhere on each OCEAN dimension and can change positions over time.
