Key points

Traits like perfectionism and people-pleasing often fuel burnout in ambitious women.

Research shows personality traits can change across the lifespan.

Optimizing traits like conscientiousness and neuroticism can create “spacious success.”

Many of the ambitious women I work with share certain personality traits: perfectionism, people pleasing, anxiety -proneness. Although these traits have likely contributed to the success they’ve achieved both professionally and personally, they can also be a first-class ticket to exhaustion and burnout .

Most also think “this is just how it is - I’m just like this.” They believe they can’t change and they're destined to stay tightly wound and overcommitted. Or, they worry that if they were to drop the rope, they’d lose their edge.

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