All Episodes

June 9, 2025 63 mins

What if your personality isn’t fixed? Olga Khazan shares how she deliberately set out to become more extroverted, agreeable, and emotionally stable—using improv, mindfulness, and science-backed strategies. Based on her book Me, But Better, this conversation explores how real change happens, and why connecting with others may be the key to becoming who you want to be.

Topics

[0:00] Intro and Speed Round with Olga Khazan

[5:59] Experiment: Can I Change My Personality?

[9:59] Results: What Changed, What Didn’t?

[17:43] Nature vs. Nurture in Personality

[21:46] Personality Traits as Tools for Life

[29:31] Can Older Adults Still Change?

[38:39] Solitude vs. True Connection

[43:45] Olga’s Music Playlist

[45:46] Grooving Session: Working on the Personality We Want

©2025 Behavioral Grooves

Links

About Olga

Me, But Better by Olga Khazan

Big 5 Personality Test

Nathan Hudson’s Research

Join the Behavioral Grooves community

Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube

Musical Links

ODESZA - The Last Goodbye

Chapell Roan - Good Luck, Babe

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.