00:00:17 Hello listeners, welcome to The Path to Calm.

00:03:02 Don’t Want to Be Sick?

00:05:59 Want to Live Longer?

00:08:12 Want a Healthier Heart?

00:10:28 Want to be Happier?

00:12:20 Want to Be More in Control?

00:16:46 Here's the primary takeaway from today's episode.

How to Find Yourself: Self-Discovery, Self-Awareness, and Life Design for Maximum Fulfillment

By: Nick Trenton

Hear it Here - https://bit.ly/findyourselftrenton

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VHK2QWR

Find what you were born for and live the life you were meant to.

Identity. It’s an abstract term. But it starts with realizing where you came from, in order to know where you should be going. And that’s the difference between fulfillment and going through the motions day after day.

Find clarity and direction, the true foundations of happiness.

How to Find Yourself provides a thorough and scientific approach to understanding yourself and why you do the things you do. You will discover your values, the roots of your behaviors, and what makes you tick.

And then you can use this information to your advantage.

No more floating through life.

Peter Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over a dozen years and is a bestselling author. He has worked with a multitude of individuals to unlock their potential and path towards success. His writing draws on his academic, coaching, and research experience.

Gain the self-awareness to live in tune with your intentions.

•The historical and biological bases of personality and identity.

•How to classify yourself using OCEAN.

•The ever-popular MBTI and how the Keirsey Temperaments are even more illuminating.

•How nature and nurture work together.

•The art of gaining self-awareness through self-analysis and observation.

Self-discovery is how you create the life you want.

It sounds so simple - and it is. A doctor can’t treat a sickness without understanding what it is, and you can’t hope to find fulfillment without understanding what provides that feeling for you. Self-discovery unlocks the potential of your happiness. .

Could simply being more extroverted actually help you live longer?

This week on the podcast, we're diving into the surprising science behind personality and its impact on our well-being.

Hello listeners, welcome to The Path to Calm.

Stop overthinking, become present, find peace.

Today is the 9th of September, 2025, and today's featured book is How to Find Yourself, Self-Discovery, Self-Awareness, and Life Design for Maximum Fulfillment, written of course by Nick Trenton.

This book, How to Find Yourself, offers a scientific approach to self-discovery, helping readers uncover their values, understand their behaviors, and ultimately live a more fulfilling life.

By exploring your past, you'll gain clarity and direction, paving the way for true happiness and purpose.

Now, today's episode specifically is pulled from Chapter 2.

The beginning of Chapter 2 talks about the Big 5 personality traits and some other tests and evaluations to determine your personality type.

But the Big 5 is recognized by professionals around the world as a foundational concept in understanding your personality.

We're going to look in the Big 5 at your levels of extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to new experiences, and neuroticism, and how each of those levels affect your day-to-day well-being.

By adjusting, for example, your conscientiousness, you might extend your life, literally.

So, the Big 5 and longevity.

Do your traits hold the key to a longer, healthier life?

And if you want a quick rundown of the entire episode, check the show notes for the timestamp to the takeaways at the end of the show and get a quick summary of the most important points.

Thanks for being with us today on The Path to Calm.

If the human psyche has been narrowed down to five key components, does it follow that there’s a winning formula?

Is there an ideal combination of traits that every human being should possess to be truly happy?

The answer is yes and no.

It certainly appears that some traits do make you happier than others.

Some traits may even make you live longer.

But personality is complex, and new scientific discoveries continue to emerge that often challenge preexisting views.

Personality can also change over time, so the extent to which people can optimize themselves and cultivate the ideal combination of traits—if it exists—may be limited.

But if you’re willing to try, here are some hacks that may help.

Don’t Want to Be Sick?

Try Being More Extroverted.

As a child, did you love to get dirty?

Did you get mud all over yourself without any thought to germs—or who was going to do the laundry?

Don’t tell your own kids or you could be stuck washing clothes for the next three weeks, but you may have actually been on to something.

As it turns out, some germs are good for you, and the more you’re exposed to them, the more your body gets used to dealing with them.

According to a study led by Professor Kavita Vedhara, extroverts were linked to an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes, while people ranking high in conscientiousness were associated with a lower expression of these genes.

In other words, people ranking higher on the extrovert scale were biologically less susceptible to disease.

That’s where being more extroverted can help you.

The more people you see, the more you’re exposed to a bigger network of germs and possible infections, and the more your body learns to cope.

While practicing good hygiene is important, some bacteria can actually toughen up our bodies to diseases.

On the other hand, the more time you spend alone, the less prepared your body is to battle new germs once they come.

Being too clean could actually hurt you.

The size of your circle of friends, therefore, could actually be a good indicator of the strength of your immune system.

So if you want to be sick less often, try being more extroverted.

That means trying to be more comfortable around others and opening yourself up to greater social opportunities.

Think of people as germs—you need exposure to some if you’re going to stay healthy!

You can start by practicing short conversations with strangers.

Next time you visit your local coffee shop, ask your server how their day is going.

When you take a taxi, ask your cab driver if it’s been a busy night.

The more you practice starting conversations, the more natural it will feel and the easier it will become.

Once you’ve got the gift of the gab, go out and use it.

Say yes to dinner invitations you would normally refuse, or invite your friends over to your house more often.

Stay off your cell phone in public and see if there’s an opportunity to meet someone while you’re on the street or waiting for the bus.

Sign up for your local Toastmasters club and practice public speaking with other people who also want to improve.

It can be nerve-racking at first to step outside your comfort zone.

But if you take baby steps, set yourself incremental goals, and accept any failures as lessons on the path to success, you could be setting yourself up for a more extroverted—and healthier—future in no time.

Want to Live Longer?

Be More Conscientious.

When you go on vacation, are you the type to fly by the seat of your pants and book nothing but the plane ticket there?

Or do you prefer to know where you’re staying, how you’ll get there, and what you’ll be doing every day thereafter until you return home?

If you’re the former, you may be seeking out more excitement in the short term but, in reality, cutting back your adventure in the end.

That’s because people who are more conscientious—that is, they are more organized and prefer planning over spontaneity—are actually known to live longer.

According to a seventy-five-year longitudinal study by Joshua Jackson (2015), which followed a group of couples in their mid-twenties, men with higher levels of conscientiousness were found to live longer.

That’s because people high in this trait were more organized, self-disciplined, and prepared.

They did fewer things that were spontaneous and more things that were safer.

Conscientiousness, therefore, helped them reach riper old ages.

So it turns out that safety pays off.

On top of being more organized, high-conscientious people are more self-disciplined and dependable.

Even when they dream of taking risks, they convince themselves that it’s not in their best interests They stick to their plans and, as a result, do fewer potentially life-threatening things.

If you want to live longer, you could try to be more conscientious.

First, get organized about your tasks and your priorities.

These days, there are lots of apps that can help you manage your time.

Once you know what needs to be done, you can train yourself to better focus on achieving it.

Try meditating for even ten minutes a day.

You may find that, over time, you’re distracted less and concentrating more on the tasks at hand.

Finally, remember that you don’t need to go cold turkey.

One step at a time, you may find yourself living a more mindful, determined, and possibly even longer life.

Want a Healthier Heart?

Be More Agreeable.

When you’re in a good mood, how do you—your body, that is—feel?

Does it feel light and energetic, or does it feel heavy and tired?

The odds are that when you’re in a good mood, so is your body.

As it turns out, the saying that good things happen to good people might actually be true.

People who rank high on the agreeableness scale—that is, they’re friendly, more compassionate, and looking to get along with everyone—do in fact have healthier hearts versus their more pessimistic peers.

What’s the science behind it?

According to Bibbey (2013), the less agreeable you are, the weaker your biological stress reactivity—or how your body manages stress.

The more relaxed and optimistic you are, and the more you’re able to take things in stride, the less stress there is on your heart.

That means a healthier heart will keep beating longer.

Being more agreeable, therefore, means that your heart is in a much better state.

Now, there are several steps you can take to be more agreeable.

First, when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself that you’re going to be agreeable with every single person you talk to that day.

Go out of your way to be nice to people and to actively listen to them.

Second, try getting involved in volunteer work.

Spend some time at your local charity.

Seeing those less fortunate than us can bring a better perspective on our own lives.

Finally, practice the art of compromise.

If you’re adamant about something going your way, you may be alienating everyone else who’s involved.

But if you’re willing to show understanding and put the interest of others above your own, you may just be building a more solid social network to support you down the road.

It may seem hard, but being more agreeable is really just about being more empathetic and less combative with the people you come across.

Trying to bring a little more pleasantness, decency, and humbleness to your demeanor can work wonders not only on your social life, but also on your health.

Want to be Happier?

Be More Open to Experience.

The last time you tried something new, how did you feel?

Maybe it was eating sushi for the first time or taking a dance class.

Chances are, even if you didn’t like it, you were proud of yourself for taking that step.

As it turns out, it may be worth taking a few more of those steps.

People who are more open to experience might just be happier overall.

What’s the reason?

Open people are by nature more curious.

Sensitive to beauty, they have a deeper appreciation for art.

They’re also more in tune with their emotions, and they think and act in ways that may not necessarily conform to society.

All of that is to say that they seek out things that make them happy.

At the end of the day, trying new things is good for us.

But being open to experience doesn’t have to mean jumping out of planes.

There are several ways you can discover new things that don’t put your life at risk.

First, recognize where your comfort zone is and then step outside of it.

Do you like exercising but are afraid of going to the gym?

Try a low-key yoga class to get started.

Second, don’t worry about what the world around you will think.

Have you always wanted to try online dating but were too afraid?

Just think, everyone else you’ll meet is doing the exact same thing.

Finally, remember that life is short.

You may wind up regretting all the things you never tried when it’s too late to start.

Being more open to experience can bring you more of the things you’ve always wanted—and happiness along the way.

Want to Be More in Control?

Try Being a Little Less Neurotic.

When was the last time you second-guessed yourself?

That never-ending cycle of doubt, wondering if you made the right choice, was likely worse punishment than either choice you could have made.

Neuroticism can lead people to do many things, but at the heart of it is the inability to control your thoughts and emotions.

Being a little less neurotic may just give you a little more control over yourself, your actions, and, in the end, your overall well-being.

Neurotic people are intense, emotionally speaking.

They respond to things in ways that most people wouldn’t.

They’re prone to seeing the challenge, the hopelessness, and the threat that lies in everyday situations.

Their negative reactions can go on for longer than others, leaving them in frequent bad moods.

Neurotic people can be prone to vulnerability, leaving them panicked, confused, and helpless under stress.

They can suffer intense anxiety and live with a constant fear of something dangerous happening.

And they can be sensitive to the perceived judgments of others, leaving them shy, uncomfortable, and even ashamed.

When they’re in that state, it can be hard to think clearly, to know what to do, and to handle the situation effectively.

That can be a challenging and very likely unhealthy way to live.

On the other hand, if you’re able to maintain your calm, poise, and confidence when you’re stressed, you become less vulnerable to outside stress.

You’re less anxious about what may happen next, and you’re able to embrace the unknown instead of fear it.

You’re also not worried about other people watching or judging you.

So how do you become less neurotic?

It may sound grim, but start by reflecting on your own mortality.

Once you realize you won’t be around forever—and neither will anyone else—you can start to chip away at your neuroses and focus on enjoying the moment.

Next, work out.

Exercise can release chemicals in the brain that boost your mood and can go a long way to helping you deal with any anxiety.

Finally, recognize your triggers and try to avoid them.

If the same person or situations are always making you anxious or stressed, the easiest solution is to avoid them.

Find people and places that help you relax.

Being a little neurotic can be a good thing.

But if you find you’re not as in control of your emotions as you’d like, challenging your neuroses could lead you to a better, more relaxed state of mind.

All of the above may make it seem pretty simple to just alter aspects of our personality, as though we were fine-tuning a dial up or down.

Naturally, the Big Five traits are the broadest categories we can draw for human behavior—they don’t tell us how those traits interact, how they come together to form a unique whole, or how they change with time.

Whether you find the Big Five personality trait model useful or not, it can be illuminating to think about your personality in terms of separate quantities.

In other words, one way to answer the question of who you are is to answer the question, what are you made of?

This model is also useful because it can shape your attempts to improve.

For example, you might take a look at your strong introversion and realize that it’s the reason you’re unhappy at your job.

Or you might realize that you are far more open to experience than you give yourself credit for, and that maybe it’s time to appreciate and develop this side of yourself more.

So, there you have it, folks.

It seems science has found a blueprint for happiness.

A cocktail, a nice mix of openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and maybe a dash less of neuroticism.

Here's the primary takeaway from today's episode.

Unlike the other assessments presented in this book, there have actually been determined to be a winning formula for these traits.

Not per se, but if you display certain traits, you are more likely to have better mental health and increased happiness.

If you're more of the first four traits, the O, C, E, and A in ocean, and less neurotic, the N in ocean, you'll tend to be happier and more fulfilled in life.

It's not hard to understand why.

You'll have more experiences, you'll live longer from your caution, you'll have a wider social circle and support system, and you'll get along better with others.

Plus, you'll be less anxious and more relaxed.

By embracing these particular traits, exploring new things, being organized and reliable, connecting with others, showing kindness and empathy, and managing those anxious thoughts, you're setting yourself up for a life filled with greater joy and fulfillment.

Today, we'll leave you with the words of the great Eleanor Roosevelt, The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.