ME, BUT BETTER

Is it really possible to change your entire personality in a year? An award-winning journalist experiments with her own personality to find outand reveals the science behind lasting change.

In recent years, Olga Khazan had been spiraling toward an existential crisis. Though she treasured her loving relationship and her dream job, her neurotic personality often left her snatching dissatisfaction from the jaws of happiness. While her overachieving had always been a professional asset, Olga lately felt like her brittle disposition could shatter under the weight of just one more thingbut could she really change her entire personality? Research shows that you can alter your personality traits by behaving in ways that align with the kind of person you'd like to bea process that can make you happier, healthier, and more successful. In Me, But Better, Olga embarks on an experiment to see whether it's possible to go from dwelling in dread to "radiating joy." For one year, Olga reluctantly clicked "yes" on a bucket list of new experiencesfrom meditation to improv to sailingthat forced her to at least act happy. With a skeptic's eye, Olga brings you on her journey through the science of personality, presenting evidence-backed techniques to help you change your mind for the better. Sharply witty and deeply fascinating, Me, But Better offers a probing inquiry into what it means to live a fulfilling life, and how you can keep diving into change, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Prior to that, she was The Atlantic's Global editor. She has also written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Vox, and other publications. She is a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project's Journalism Fellowship and winner of the 2017 National Headliner Awards for Magazine Online Writing. She lives with her husband and son in Northern Virginia.