meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Daily Stoic

Your Personality Is Not Fixed | Olga Khazan

The Daily Stoic

Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures

Education, 694393, Daily Stoic, Society & Culture, Stoic, Stoicism, Self-improvement, Business, Stoic Philosophy, Philosophy, Ryan Holiday

4.64.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can people actually change or are we just stuck with who we are? In this episode, author and journalist Olga Khazan joins Ryan to unpack the age-old debate: are personality traits fixed or can we reshape them over time? Olga shares what happened when she tried to change her own personality over the course of a year and what science says about whether that’s even possible.


Olga Khazan is a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of Me, But Better. You can follow Olga on Instagram and X @Olganator and read more of her work on Substack: https://olgakhazan.substack.com/


📚 Grab signed copies of her book Me, But Better at The Painted Porch!


🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast


🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast


✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail


🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/


📱 Follow us:  Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad free right now.

0:05.0

Just join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

0:09.2

One of the best decisions I ever made here with Daily Stoic was the decision to use Shopify.

0:15.3

Shopify is the backend for the Daily Stoic store.

0:18.3

If you've ever done our courses, those are done through Shopify.

0:22.2

If you've ever bought a signed book from me, you've done that through Shopify.

0:25.4

If you've ever bought anything from the painted porch, that's also through Shopify.

0:30.3

Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10%

0:35.5

of all e-commerce here in the U.S. Everyone from Mattel and Jim Shark,

0:39.8

including a bunch of up-and-coming brands that you haven't even heard of yet, they're all getting

0:43.8

their start with Shopify. Designing your site and your store is easy. They've got hundreds of

0:49.0

ready to use templates to help you build a beautiful online store to match your style. If you're ready to sell,

0:55.6

you are ready for Shopify and you can sign up for a $1 per month trial and start selling today

1:01.3

at Shopify.com.uk.uk-stuK.com.com.com slash stoic. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.

1:12.5

What would the Stoics think of therapy?

1:15.8

I don't know, maybe some of them might have been closed-minded about it, but I'd like to think

1:19.7

that they'd be open-minded to any tool, any strategy, any way of thinking that helps make you

1:25.6

better, that helps you look in the mirror, that helps you explore what's holding you back, how you're getting in your own way, that

1:31.8

helps you get over trauma, that helps you see life and situations more clearly. And that's

1:37.3

where today's sponsor comes in. I myself have found therapy to be very beneficial, to help me

1:42.9

be a better parent, a better husband,

1:44.4

a better leader, and any way that helps you do something like that quicker, cheaper, and easier

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.