Personality Compass with Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala

Personality Compass with Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala Using science-backed strategies to empower people to become the best version of themselves. Visit my website to work with me!

Dr. Shannon is mental health expert, personality scientist, and TEDx speaker who busts myth that personality is set in stone. Expert Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Specialized mental health services for anxiety, depression, and borderline personality disorder. Evidence-based therapy tailored to help clients feel better and live a more fulfilling life. Personality Coaching for Goal Achievement

: Develop the traits and skills needed to reach your personal and professional goals with personalized, growth-oriented coaching. Supervision, Consultation, and Training for Mental Health Providers: Expert guidance in CBT, Unified Protocol, and BPD Compass. Training workshops available for therapists seeking advanced, evidence-based methods. Certification programs and program implementation also available.

Nobody tells perfectionists this 👇Yes, perfectionism is part of your personality:Conscientiousness - that’s where the hi...
09/04/2026

Nobody tells perfectionists this 👇

Yes, perfectionism is part of your personality:

Conscientiousness - that’s where the high standards come from

Emotional Sensitivity - that’s where the fear of what happens if you don’t meet those standards comes from.

But you don’t have to resign yourself to “I’m just like this” because it’s your personality.

Trait patterns are not set in stone; they’re learned and developed over time. That means you can unlearn them. The best way is through behavioral experiments.

Comment "EDIT" and I’ll send you the details 🧭✨

Being introverted comes with real strengths.But if speaking up more, meeting new people, or saying yes to new experience...
09/01/2026

Being introverted comes with real strengths.

But if speaking up more, meeting new people, or saying yes to new experiences would help you build the life you want, you don't have to become an extrovert.

You might just need to turn the dial a little on this trait.

Comment ARTICLE and I’ll send the article I wrote on the topic!

08/31/2026

3 small experiments that can rebuild your capacity to trust someone

1. Delegate the low-risk task ~ Hand off something small, then actually leave it alone. No checking in, no “just peeking,” no asking how it’s going. Let someone else take ownership from start to finish.

2. Share the one thing you'd normally hold back ~ Not your whole story. Just one piece of information you’d usually keep to yourself “to be safe.” Notice what happens when you let someone in a little further than you normally would.

3. Skip the double-check ~ The one you always do. Don’t verify the schedule, don’t reread the text, don’t ask “wait, are we still on for Saturday?” Sit with the discomfort and notice whether what you expected actually happens.

💙 Which one feels hardest for you?

💙 Which one have you already been practicing without realizing it?

💙 If you tried one, what happened?

Genuinely curious ✨

Trust is a pattern built through lots of small moments where you learned to expect the worst. Which means it can shift the same way, one small moment at a time.

If you’re working on trusting yourself and other people again, I’d love to have you here. Follow along for more on how personality actually changes.

Want to know which personality trait is getting in your way the most right now? 🧭Comment “PLAN” and I’ll send you my gui...
08/28/2026

Want to know which personality trait is getting in your way the most right now? 🧭

Comment “PLAN” and I’ll send you my guide to help you map your personality traits to your goals.

✨ You’ll identify the one trait creating the most friction and find the one small shift that could make the biggest difference.

Why can a task feel harder to start than it actually is to finish?You might put off an email, appointment, phone call, o...
08/25/2026

Why can a task feel harder to start than it actually is to finish?

You might put off an email, appointment, phone call, or small task for weeks, only to finally do it and realize it took 15 minutes.

The problem isn't always laziness. Sometimes we're avoiding what we expect the task will feel like: boring, frustrating, overwhelming, or uncomfortable. And putting it off gives us immediate relief, which makes procrastinating easier to repeat.

In this week's article, I explain:

→ how personality can shape procrastination

→ why avoiding a task reinforces the urge to delay it

→ how a five-minute experiment can challenge your predictions

Comment “ARTICLE” and I'll send you the full article.

The replay is READY! 🎉A few weeks ago, I ran a live workshop for therapists on how I start treatment with BPD using the ...
08/24/2026

The replay is READY! 🎉

A few weeks ago, I ran a live workshop for therapists on how I start treatment with BPD using the BPD Compass approach.

A bunch of you couldn’t make it live and asked if there would be a replay...

So here it is.

It’s a two-hour, on-demand workshop you can watch whenever it works for you.

We cover:

🧭 How values shape the treatment plan

🧭 How I use an evidence-based assessment to personalize treatment

🧭 Why I focus on getting clients REALLY good at a few skills instead of teaching them everything

🧭 How to think about the BPD Compass approach in real-world clinical practice

You’ll get the slides + fillable worksheets too.

You can finally stop waiting for the replay 😉

Comment “REPLAY” and I'll send it your way!

08/21/2026

Not everyone with borderline personality disorder grew up in chaos.

Some grew up with parents who meant well. Parents who said, "it'll be okay," or "it's not a big deal," every time a big emotion showed up.

That response feels harmless. But when a kid who feels things intensely keeps hearing their reaction is too much, they learn to distrust it instead, to believe they should be able to just turn it off.

In this clip, I walk through this other path to BPD, one that never involved abuse at all.

Does this sound like your story, or someone you know?

08/20/2026

I see this all the time - you know exactly which of your traits get in the way. The overthinking. The people-pleasing. The perfectionism that makes you rewrite the same email four times before you send it.

You've read the books, taken every test, and can explain your patterns better than most people could explain their own name.

But understanding why you do something isn't the same as doing it differently.

So you keep hitting the same wall: overthinking the decision, saying yes when you mean no, redoing work you already finished.

With every year that passes, the dream life you keep picturing (calmer, more confident, more you) stays exactly where it's been. A few years out.

This is what happens when insight isn't paired with a system.

You don't need to understand your personality; you need a structure for changing it.

Inside The Personality Edit, you'll move through Clarify, Cultivate, and Consolidate: the same 10-week, science-backed framework I built from my own clinical research to help you edit the patterns keeping you stuck.

If you know your patterns inside and out and you're ready to stop just naming them and start changing them, The Personality Edit is for you.

Comment “EDIT” to learn more.

[SWIPE 👉🏼] Are you stuck in the Emotional Spiral? I’m sharing what it is and how to get out of it ✨
08/19/2026

[SWIPE 👉🏼] Are you stuck in the Emotional Spiral? I’m sharing what it is and how to get out of it ✨

Here are some of my favorites!If you want results like this for yourself or your clients, the BPD Compass Workbook is NO...
08/18/2026

Here are some of my favorites!

If you want results like this for yourself or your clients, the BPD Compass Workbook is NOW available!

We worked with New Harbinger Publications to create a fully self-guided workbook!

Work through it on your own, take it to your therapy, or, if you are a therapist, take it to your clients!

Order here and get bonuses like fillable PDFs of all the worksheets, assessment tools to help you personalize the treatment, streaming mindfulness mediations, and a fidelity checklist for therapists.

https://www.shannonsauerzavala.com/the-bpd-compass-workbook?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=post&utm_content=&utm_campaign=bpd-compass

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