Olga Khazan

there's five traits of personality. And for example, the trait of agreeableness, which is sort of like warmth and empathy, that can help you make more friends. It can help you deepen your relationships. It can help you become more enmeshed in community. And so that is actually, you can think of it as almost like a tool in your toolkit for living the kind of life you'd like to live.

Absolutely. You can remember them with the acronym OCEAN. So O for openness to experiences. This is sort of like imaginativeness and creativity. Then C for conscientiousness. This is being organized and on time, meeting deadlines, not being messy, not forgetting things, things like that. E for extroversion. We all know extroverts, they love to socialize and talk to people. They're cheerful.

Absolutely. You can remember them with the acronym OCEAN. So O for openness to experiences. This is sort of like imaginativeness and creativity. Then C for conscientiousness. This is being organized and on time, meeting deadlines, not being messy, not forgetting things, things like that. E for extroversion. We all know extroverts, they love to socialize and talk to people. They're cheerful.

Absolutely. You can remember them with the acronym OCEAN. So O for openness to experiences. This is sort of like imaginativeness and creativity. Then C for conscientiousness. This is being organized and on time, meeting deadlines, not being messy, not forgetting things, things like that. E for extroversion. We all know extroverts, they love to socialize and talk to people. They're cheerful.

They like to go and do activities. A for agreeableness, which I just mentioned, which is sort of like warmth and empathy and trust in others. And then N is a little funny. It's for neuroticism, which is a bad thing. It's associated with anxiety and depression. So the others are positive. Neuroticism is a negative thing.

They like to go and do activities. A for agreeableness, which I just mentioned, which is sort of like warmth and empathy and trust in others. And then N is a little funny. It's for neuroticism, which is a bad thing. It's associated with anxiety and depression. So the others are positive. Neuroticism is a negative thing.

They like to go and do activities. A for agreeableness, which I just mentioned, which is sort of like warmth and empathy and trust in others. And then N is a little funny. It's for neuroticism, which is a bad thing. It's associated with anxiety and depression. So the others are positive. Neuroticism is a negative thing.

The flip side of neuroticism is called emotional stability, and that's the one that you want to be.

The flip side of neuroticism is called emotional stability, and that's the one that you want to be.

The flip side of neuroticism is called emotional stability, and that's the one that you want to be.

Yeah, that's the personality trait of conscientiousness.

Yeah, that's the personality trait of conscientiousness.

Yeah, that's the personality trait of conscientiousness.

You know, the reason why people are sometimes resistant to change on these traits is that personality can have a little bit of an identity component. So if you see yourself as an introvert, it can be really hard to give that up. You know, it's almost like changing your name or something like that.

You know, the reason why people are sometimes resistant to change on these traits is that personality can have a little bit of an identity component. So if you see yourself as an introvert, it can be really hard to give that up. You know, it's almost like changing your name or something like that.

You know, the reason why people are sometimes resistant to change on these traits is that personality can have a little bit of an identity component. So if you see yourself as an introvert, it can be really hard to give that up. You know, it's almost like changing your name or something like that.

Yeah, and sometimes it's about not knowing what actions to take. So particularly in the case of conscientiousness, that can be a really tough one where people want to be on the other side of it, right? They want to be organized. They want to be proactive. It can be really hard to see how to get there from where you are.

Yeah, and sometimes it's about not knowing what actions to take. So particularly in the case of conscientiousness, that can be a really tough one where people want to be on the other side of it, right? They want to be organized. They want to be proactive. It can be really hard to see how to get there from where you are.

Yeah, and sometimes it's about not knowing what actions to take. So particularly in the case of conscientiousness, that can be a really tough one where people want to be on the other side of it, right? They want to be organized. They want to be proactive. It can be really hard to see how to get there from where you are.

And so a lot of the people that I talked to for that chapter, you know, they were like, I'm going to start a business. And then they just kind of sat around watching TV because they weren't really conscientious to begin with and they weren't really sure how to make themselves conscientious.