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Pop-Up Podcast: Author Olga Khazan Makes the Selfish Case for Personality Change

Authors Olga Khazan (ME, BUT BETTER) and Anna Goldfarb (MODERN FRIENDSHIP) explain how personality impacts our friendships

Have you ever wondered if you can change your personality in a year? Journalist Olga Khazan did! She dives into this intriguing question in her new book, ME, BUT BETTER.

As a staff writer for The Atlantic, Olga has reported on all facets of the human experience. With this book, she runs experiments to see what aspects of her personality can be altered so she can be her best self. She had questions like: Can she make herself less neurotic? Or increase her willingness to trust others? Or make more friends? Over the course of writing the book, she finds out!

I chatted with Olga about how our personality traits impact our friendships, all while my cats wrestled in the background like drunken soccer hooligans.

After I stopped fangirling over talking to her, we discussed:

  • Vulnerability in writing

  • How the concept of agreeableness impacts our friendmaking efforts

  • Feeling isolated

  • Our boisterous children & cats

  • Grifters!

  • How our values shape our personality and behavior

  • The unique challenges we face maintaining friendships as adults

You can pick up ME, BUT BETTER anywhere books are sold!

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