When I tell people I used to be lazy, they don't believe me. They think I'm being self-deprecating. They can’t square the person I am now – a successful academic – with the kid who cleaned by stuffing everything under the bed, or the high school student who rarely attended math class (and consequently had to repeat Algebra II). How did I go from “Shannon isn’t living up to her full potential” (a common refrain in my parent-teacher conferences) to an ambitious, inbox-zero sort of person?

People are also surprised to learn I used to be shy. Now, as a university professor, I lecture in front of 200 students and I recently gave a TEDx talk. What a far cry from the girl who rarely raised her hand in class or the teenager who sat back and observed during social events.

I can’t pinpoint any major event or milestone that set these changes in motion. Instead, adding a new behavior here and there slowly snowballed over time. In fact, I think I gradually shaped the traits I’d need to be successful in the life I wanted, instead of letting my personality dictate or limit what I could become.

Beyond my own experience watching my personality change over time, I’m a clinical psychologist and treatment development researcher with a specialty in personality change. I love telling people about my own personality change story as a way to bust the myth that traits are set in stone. (Science tells us that personality changes considerably as we age).

Starting small ignited my journey from messy and lazy to off-the-charts in........

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