In at least one way, I’m like most people—I’m often thinking about ways I could be better. There are moments when, upon immediate reflection, I realize I could have taken a better course of action, and often in these moments, I silently pledge to take better action when similar circumstances present themselves in the future. Alas, the future often arrives and finds me inclined to do the same things again. Here, I also believe I am not alone, else the self-help section of bookstores would be less crowded, nor would there exist the burgeoning literature on intentional personality trait change, a topic about which I have written before in this space.

Shortly after I delved into personality change literature, I decided I might want to dip my toe in these waters, merging personal and professional interests. During a sabbatical a couple of years ago, I spent a substantial amount of time researching some relevant topics to devise my study of how to help people change their behaviors for the better. In the end, I decided to try to import some concepts from the literature in clinical psychology—wherein we attempt to remedy concerns in behavior, cognition, and/or

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