Your personality changes farrr more than you think as you age.

A new study asked ~1K Americans to estimate how much their character changed in the past, and how much it would change. They then cross-referenced answers against eight datasets that tracked ~200K people aged 15-90.

The gap was staggering.

We underestimate year-to-year personality shifts 90% of the time, and lifetime shifts 100% of the time.

Curiously, we underestimate shifts in health and income far less (29% and 43%).

So what changes most about us? Extraversion and openness decline more than we'd think throughout life. Conscientiousness too, but that's more volatile (it increases for years, then dips).

"For a long time, both the general public and many psychologists believed personality traits were permanent," the study reads.

Turns out they aren't. We're a major work in progress...

Ever notice you give great advice to everyone but yourself?

There's a fix. Next time you're stuck, don't ask "What should I do?" Ask "What would I tell my best friend to do here?"

Say it out loud in the third person, using your own name.

Psychologists call it Solomon's Paradox, after the king who dished out wisdom to everyone while his own life quietly unraveled.

Stepping outside your own head strips away ego, panic, and sunk costs.

Now get out there and self-talk like a boss.

1. An octopus is just a wet spider.

2. Every mirror you buy is used.

3. Meatloaf is a rectangular meatball.

4. Ironically, there's no synonym for the word "synonym."

5. If my calculator had a search history, it'd be more embarrassing than my browser history.