Me, But Better

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The Book in 3 Sentences

• Olga Khazan’s experiment in personality change. Khazan, a journalist at The Atlantic, spends a year testing whether personality traits are more flexible than we assume, especially around neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
• You can change by behaving like the person you want to become. Instead of waiting to feel different first, try activities that force new patterns: improv for extroversion, surfing for openness, meditation, social experiments, and other uncomfortable but deliberate practices.
• Personality is not totally fixed, and growth can come from repeated small actions rather than dramatic reinvention.

My Top 3 Quotes

• “People understandably try to avoid difficult feelings like discomfort, sadness, or anxiety. But those feelings can be a sign that something matters to you, and is therefore worth pursuing. In fact, a type of psychotherapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, suggests that what we cherish most is often precisely what prompts”
• "Humility is no substitute for good personality.”