Why You're Not Stuck Being "You" Forever & How To Change Your Personality | Olga Khazan

May 8, 2025

Olga Khazan, a staff writer for The Atlantic and author of 'Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World', dives into how personality can be transformed. She discusses recognizing when change is necessary, common traits people want to alter, and practical steps for reinvention. Khazan highlights the influence of environment on personality and shares techniques for managing anxiety and neuroticism. Intriguingly, she explains why introverts may find happiness through extroverted behaviors, encouraging a journey of self-awareness and personal growth.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Personal Signs of Needing Change

Olga Khazan felt isolated and lonely, mostly by herself except for interviews.
Small daily inconveniences caused her to have major meltdowns and stress.

INSIGHT

Popular Personality Traits to Change

People most often want to increase conscientiousness and extroversion, and reduce neuroticism.
Conscientious people tend to earn more and live healthier, making it a popular trait to improve.

ADVICE

Build Confidence by Acting

Confidence often follows action: acting extroverted builds confidence, not the other way around.
Engage in social activities first, then confidence will increase as you succeed.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic and the author, previously, of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World. She has also written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Vox, and other publications. She is a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project’s Journalism Fellowship and winner of the 2017 National Headliner Award for Magazine Online Writing.

Today on the show we discuss: how to know you need to change your personality, the most common personality traits people want to change, steps you can take today to completely reinvent who you are, techniques for reducing anxiety and neuroticism, the role your environment plays in your personality, how to completely reinvent, why introverts are happier after acting extroverted and much more.

⚠ WELLNESS DISCLAIMER ⚠

Please be advised; the topics related to health and mental health in my content are for informational, discussion, and entertainment purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your health or mental health professional or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your current condition. Never disregard professional advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard from your favorite creator, on social media, or shared within content you’ve consumed.

If you are in crisis or you think you may have an emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.

If you do not have a health professional who is able to assist you, use these resources to find help:

Emergency Medical Services—911

If the situation is potentially life-threatening, get immediate emergency assistance by calling 911, available 24 hours a day.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

SAMHSA addiction and mental health treatment Referral Helpline, 1-877-SAMHSA7 (1-877-726-4727) and https://www.samhsa.gov

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices