How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1042: Self-Improvement through Personality Change with Olga Khazan

Mar 20, 2025

Olga Khazan, a Staff writer for The Atlantic and author of "Me, But Better," dives into the fascinating world of personality change. She discusses the misconceptions around authenticity and how adapting behaviors can enhance mental health. The conversation reveals the Big Five personality traits and tools for self-evaluation, while mindfulness is highlighted as a key method for personal transformation. Olga shares practical steps to boost extroversion and emphasizes that personal identity can evolve at any stage of life, encouraging listeners to embrace their own growth.

35:16

Episode guests

Olga Khazan

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Engaging in actions that align with your desired self-image can facilitate meaningful personality changes and improve overall life satisfaction.

Balancing authenticity with proactive behavior encourages personal growth and fosters a more fulfilling life by evolving one's identity.

Deep dives

The Power of Personality Alignment

Behavioral alignment with one's desired self-image can significantly influence personality change. Engaging in actions that reflect the characteristics of the person you aspire to be allows for a shift toward that identity. This transformative process can have a profound impact, as demonstrated by the finding that even a small decrease in neuroticism can equate to an increase in life satisfaction comparable to earning an additional $314,000 per year. Ultimately, improving your mental well-being does not require substantial changes in your external circumstances but can stem from internal shifts in attitude and behavior.

Intro

2min

Redefining Authenticity

3min

Understanding the Big Five of Personality

8min

Mindfulness and Personality Transformation

17min

Practical Steps for Enhancing Extroversion and Openness

4min

Exploring Personal Change and Identity Reinvention

2min

Embracing Authenticity and Personal Growth

2min

Olga Khazan discusses the surprising findings on how personality change can be possible and beneficial.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) The problem with “authenticity”

2) The surprisingly simple secret to changing your personality

3) The simple interventions that make us less neurotic

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1042 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT OLGA —

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. She lives with her husband and son in Northern Virginia.

• Book: Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change

• Substack: OlgaKhazan.substack.com

• Writer Profile: Olga Khazan, The Atlantic

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• App: TapeACall

• Website: PersonalityAssessor.com

• Term: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

• Course: 8-week MBSR courses

• Study: “Is Personality Fixed? Personality Changes as Much as ‘Variable’ Economic Factors and More Strongly Predicts Changes to Life Satisfaction” by Christopher J. Boyce, Alex M. Wood, and Nattavudh Powdthavee

• Researcher: Nathan Hudson

• Author: Jon Kabat-Zinn

• Book: How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair