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Personality Isn’t Permanent by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, PhD
Personality Isn’t Permanent: Break Free from Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story Psychologist and bestselling author Benjamin Hardy, PhD, debunks the pervasive myths about personality that prevent us from learning—and provides bold strategies for personal transformation
In Personality Isn’t Permanent, Dr. Benjamin Hardy draws on psychological research to demolish the popular misconception that personality—a person’s consistent attitudes and behaviors—is innate and unchanging. Hardy liberates us from the limiting belief that our “true selves” are to be discovered, and shows how we can intentionally create our desired selves and achieve amazing goals instead. He offers practical, science-based advice to for personal-reinvention, including:
- Why personality tests such as Myers-Briggs and Enneagram are not only psychologically destructive but are no more scientific than horoscopes
• Why you should never be the “former” anything–because defining yourself by your past successes is just as damaging to growth as being haunted by past failures
• How to design your current identity based on your desired future self and make decisions here-and-now through your new identity
• How to reframe traumatic and painful experiences into a fresh narrative supporting your future success
• How to become confident enough to define your own life’s purpose
• How to create a network of “empathetic witnesses” who actively encourage you through the highs and lows of extreme growth
• How to enhance your subconscious to overcome addictions and limiting patterns
• How redesign your environment to pull you toward your future, rather than keep you stuck in the past
• How to tap into what psychologists call “pull motivation” by narrowing your focus on a single, definable, and compelling outcomeThe book includes true stories of intentional self-transformation—such as Vanessa O’Brien, who quit her corporate job and set the Guinness World Record for a woman climbing the highest peak on every continent in the fastest time; Andre Norman, who became a Harvard fellow after serving a fourteen-year prison sentence; Ken Arlen, who instantly quit smoking by changing his identity narrative; and Hardy himself, who transcended his childhood in a broken home, surrounded by issues of addiction and mental illness, to earn his PhD and build a happy family.Filled with strategies for reframing your past and designing your future, Personality Isn’t Permanent is a guide to breaking free from the past and becoming the person you want to be.
Book review
For many years, the concept that personality is unchangeable has been promoted by many schools of psychology. In his incredible, well-written and thought-provoking guide, Personality Isn’t Permanent, Dr. Benjamin Hardy shows why this is a myth and provides practical strategies for changing one’s personality.
The work puts forward intelligent, enlightening discussions that are supported by real-life experiences, studies and research work by accredited psychologists and institutions. Organized systematically, the book begins by debunking limiting beliefs such as personality is fixed, personality is something that is discovered, it is an authentic representation of a person, personality comes from a person’s past and personality can be categorized into types.
In the second part, the book proves that change is possible through goal-setting and personal effort. Purpose, focus, action, and commitment are some other qualities discussed in regard to changing personality. The book’s exploration is very extensive, covering areas such as marriage, career, parenting, and more. It puts forward and explains unique and empowering viewpoints such as purpose drives personality, past trauma should be transformed, each person needs to frame and believe in their future self, discouraging remarks should be evaluated for validity and emotions should be assessed and regulated. While popular belief is that we are a product of our environment, Dr. Hardy describes how you can make your environment correspond to desired outcomes. In one, he proposes strategic ignorance which is ignoring options that do not correspond to the goals set.
Characterized by eye-opening observations, self-examining questions, and powerful anecdotes, the discussions are lively and conversational. Personality Isn’t Permanent by Dr. Benjamin Hardy is a life-changing guide that offers accessible and profound solutions to what initially appears as a fixed condition. I found this excellent book to be extremely helpful, inspirational and filled with applicable knowledge. I, for one, would love to make changes to my own personality, which I never thought was possible. I now I have the knowhow, determination, education and tools to implement and make it happen. Thank you Dr. Benjamin Hardy for Personality Isn’t Permanent, an inspirational, knowledgeable and valuable guide and self-help book. Personality Isn’t Permanent by Dr. Benjamin Hardy comes highly recommend by Chick Lit Café. Book reviewed by Edith Emunah for Chick Lit Café.
