Personality Isn't Permanent: Break Free from Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 1,957 ratings

Price: 13.78

Last update: 02-25-2025


About this item

Psychologist and best-selling 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 outcome

The audiobook 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 14-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.


Top reviews from the United States

  • smf
    5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Benjamin Hardy book
    Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024
    I own and have read all of Dr. Benjamin Hardy's books, and this is my favorite one. If you are interested in personal growth and development, I highly recommend reading this book annually. It will help you set clear goals that you're excited about, and get you out of your own way so you can live the life of your dreams.

    We don't realize how detrimental unresolved trauma can be and that it can actually stunt our growth. Dr. Hardy explains, in the simplest of terms, how to go about redefining the meaning of past mistakes and emotionally traumatic experiences. I have never read another book that helped me to understand how to go about doing this, before now.

    The reality is, our personalities are not fixed. We can change. We can break free from negative thought patterns that keep us locked into worry and rumination, and we can have anything we want in life if we are willing to put forth the effort into consciously creating a powerful vision for the future. We can be whoever we want to be.

    Every time I read a book by Dr. Benjamin Hardy, I learn something new. I buy and read the books he recommends, and I immediately apply what makes sense under the circumstances in my own life. This is the author all of us "self-help" junkies have needed for many years. I am eternally grateful for the wisdom I have gleaned from this book.
  • Kelly Schuknecht
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very motivational!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2021
    This was the absolute best book I could have picked to kick off a new year!

    I actually love personality tests. We've done the DiSC and Kolbe assessments at my work. I think they're really helpful in getting to know yourself better and how you work with other people.

    But, in his book, Personality Isn't Permanent, Benjamin Hardy definitely makes you think differently about those kinds of assessments. Personality tests can be limiting, and it's important not to let them prevent you from creating the life you are meant to live.

    “When you decide who you’ll be and the life you’ll live, you can have anything you truly want. You can become an outlier. You can have experiences that not only shock other people but shock yourself ”

    Hardy focuses a lot on "trauma" which, to be honest, I found a little hard to get my head around. We tend to think of trauma as major incidents that cause PTSD. However, what he means by trauma is: failures and missed opportunities. It can be a much smaller scale -- anytime someone or something made you feel bad about something that now limits you in some way.

    He gives the example of a woman whose teacher corrected her drawing something like 40 years ago, and this incident stuck with her her entire life. It made her feel like she was not capable of creating art and so she never pursued it, despite a deep inner desire to illustrate children's books.

    Throughout the book, I had to keep thinking about what trauma may have occurred to me that could be holding me back in some way. I realized public speaking is probably my thing. There wasn't a specific incident of a person making me feel bad, it's just a fear of mine. I shy away from it. "I'm not good at public speaking," is an excuse I tell myself and others. My personality tests confirm that this is not one of my strong suits. I am a heads-down, behind the scenes kind of worker, not an Influencer (on the DiSC scale). If public speaking were necessary for growth in my career, then this is the type of self-limiting belief that would hold me back from becoming who I'm truly meant to be.

    Hardy talks a lot about journaling:

    “Your journal is a brilliant place to actively convince yourself, emotionally, that what you want is already yours—you influence yourself through strategic communication”

    In every chapter, he provides self-reflective questions to answer in your journal. This is very helpful for the reader to apply what they're learning as they read the book.

    Personality Isn't Permanent is a very motivational read! I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in personal development and growth.
  • Elaine Starling
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Superpower of Choice
    Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2024
    Personality Isn’t Permanent is a game changer, calling us all to choose to live as our best selves. Benjamin Hardy walks us through what shapes us and the choices we can make whenever we want to.
    I am reinvigorated by this wonderful book! I’m journaling about my Future Self, defining who and how I choose to be. I’m committed to living life full out from my best self while making a difference for others. This one is a Must Read.
  • Mo Man
    4.0 out of 5 stars Same old benjamin hardy book
    Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2023
    Its a mish mash of his blog posts, youtube videos and other books. Nothing wrong with that but petty redundant ideas.

    Going in you should know its similar to his other words; nevertheless, still inspiring and quick read.
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book from Benjamin
    Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2024
    This book will help you reprogram your mind. You will learn that you don't need to be tied to old versions of yourself.
  • Tamara Anderson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Do you feel Stuck in Life? Read this book!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2020
    I'm lucky enough to have been able to read an advanced copy of Personality Isn’t Permanent, since I interviewed Dr. Hardy for my podcast, Stories of Hope in Hard Times. I also ordered a hardbound book because I plan on re-reading this transformational book over and over!

    This is a powerful book about hope. First, it teaches that you can change who you are. Your personality can change. It isn't permanent! Isn't that a liberating concept to ponder? You don't have to stay stuck if you aren't happy. You can change! Second, it teaches you that the trauma you have experienced in life is can be reframed/changed so that you look more at the lessons and who you've become because of it instead of staying stuck.

    In the introduction, Dr. Hardy explains, “The biggest evidence of the ideas in this book is my own life.” He changed from being a video game junkie who barely graduated from high school to being the #1 blogger on Medium and earned his doctorate in Psychology.

    One thing I love about this book is the personal stories Dr. Hardy shares throughout. The stories help teach the concepts he is explaining in such a logical but extremely personal manner. I didn’t feel like I was being talked down to by a doctor who was speaking way above my head. Dr. Hardy is personable and down to earth.

    I love the journaling prompts throughout the book. Dr. Hardy really invites us to write our thoughts, process our traumas, and imagine our future self and write about it. The more clear who we want to be becomes, we can then break down into mini-goals how to get there.

    This is a must read for 2020—especially in our troubled times. There is hope, and we can change!

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