Living Authentically with Purpose: A Conversation with Marita Littauer

Episode Description:
In this episode, we sit down with Marita Littauer —author, speaker, and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience empowering individuals to embrace who they truly are.

Based in Lubbock, Texas, Marita has dedicated her life to helping people—especially women—step into authenticity, build resilience, and live with intention. Through her work in writing, speaking, and entrepreneurship, she shares practical wisdom and real-life insights that inspire meaningful personal growth.

This conversation dives into what it really means to live authentically, how to navigate life’s challenges with purpose, and why self-awareness is the foundation for a fulfilling life.

If you’re ready to grow, reflect, and step more fully into who you are, this episode is for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

•  What authenticity truly means (and why it matters) 
•  How to build resilience through life’s challenges 
•  The power of self-awareness in personal growth 
•  Lessons from 30+ years of empowering others 
•  How to live with intention in both life and business 

https://thepersonalities.com/

Transcript

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve, welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today, I am joined by Lubbock, Texas, own multifactionate author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Marita Littauer. Marita focuses on helping individuals, specifically women, embrace their authentic self and live fulfilled lives. So we're going to be talking to her about her work. She has 30 years of experience, so we've got a lot to talk about. So, Marita, thank you for joining me.

>> Marita Littauer: 1:07

Thank you. It's great to be with you.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 1:09

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

>> Marita Littauer: 1:13

Well, as you mentioned, I live in Lubbock Town, Texas, and I've been here now for 11 years, and I intend to stay here for the rest of my life. I really love it, and I am an author and a speaker, as you mentioned. I have spent the past decade remodeling, houses. I'm now kind of retired from that and just, doing some efforts to promote my book as it is now in its 20th year of publication. So 2026 is the 20th anniversary of publication for my book Wired that Way.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 1:49

Wow. Well, congratulations on that. And talk, to the listeners about how you got into writing and speaking.

>> Marita Littauer: 1:58

Well, for me, it was kind of a family thing. My mother has written or wrote, because she's no longer with us, so I guess it's past tense. Wrote, more than 40 books. And so my entree into publishing was sort of in the family. And my first book actually was on color and wardrobe and makeup for women back in the day. This was, Well, gosh, it was 30 years ago. No, it was more than 30 years ago. It was 40 years ago because I was in my early 20s and I'm now in my late 60s, so this had to be quite a while ago that I wrote my very first book. And it was on color and wardrobe and makeup. And at that time, it was really popular for women to have their colors done. And there was a book at the time that was called Color Me Beautiful that was very popular. And knowing the publishing industry as I do now, I can totally understand how the publishers were having a editorial meeting, you know, around a boardroom table kind of thing. And they were probably saying to themselves, this book, Color Made Beautiful, is really popular. We need to get something like that. And I can picture someone saying, well, Florence's, daughter does that. And they reached out to me and offered me a publishing contract for that book. And that doesn't really happen very often, but because I had a family entree into the industry, that was how I first got into writing.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 3:33

Okay, well, let's talk about the work you do. You know, in your work you say understanding one's personality type is real important. So talk about why that is.

>> Marita Littauer: 3:45

Yeah, it's very important. And my best selling book, the one that I mentioned that's in 20 years of publication, is Wired that way. And that's the topic of that book is understanding the person, your personality and the personality of others. And it's especially, it's important in all relationships. But I believe it's especially important in marriage because most of us tend to marry someone who is opposite from us. And I believe that's the way it was designed for us because when we married, if we were to marry someone who's just like us, there's a whole set of skills, skills that aren't present. But for example, my personality type is the real fun loving, outgoing kind of personality combined with the strong driven, goal oriented type of personality. So if I married someone who was just like that, the opinionated, goal oriented person, we'd be butting heads and we'd also, in our union, we would be missing someone who's good at finances, who's good at accounting, who can make sure the house payment is paid and can make sure the checking account's not overdrawn and so forth. So I believe that it's natural, design for us to be naturally attracted to someone who is opposite from us. However, while we are attracted to that person who is opposite from us, living with them day in and day out, if you don't actually understand the intricacies of the differing personality types, what was originally attract can very quickly turn into attack. And so when we can identify the personality type of the person, that we're married to, or even better off when you're dating. But if you can identify that personality type of that person, and this is a very important point, and you care enough about that relationship, and that applies to, in the workplace, it applies with friends as well. If you care enough about that relationship to step outside of who you are naturally and look at what that other person needs and then actually meet their emotional needs, I, believe and I have seen and I know you can have almost instant changes in your relationships.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 6:12

Well, talk, about the personalities.

>> Marita Littauer: 6:15

Oh, well, good. Thank you for asking that. Yeah, I'm delighted to do so. Yeah, wired that way. We talk about four basic personality types. However, much like a color wheel, there are variations, really unlimited variations within those four basic personality types. And I like to start with what I call the popular sanguine personality, which is represented by the color yellow. And I like to start with that one because that is the personality type that is the most obvious. To identify this would be like the child that you would say about this child, oh, she never met a stranger. It's the child who talks to total strangers in the grocery store lines, who kind of is, the life of the party. Kind of a little bit of a show off. That person as an adult. Usually some of that is kind of toned down, but they still like bright colored clothing, they still talk with their hands, they still have a loud voice, and they still are pretty incapable of keeping a secret. So when I'm speaking on this topic, I tell people, if you know someone like this, do not tell them a secret. because if you do, it won't remain a secret for very long. So that would be the yellow or the popular sanguine. And as you're listening today, if you kind of picture a quadrant, four squares, two on the top, two on the bottom, you would put the popular sanguine on the top left, the yellow. Then on the top right is the powerful color represented by the color red, strong red, like, like a fire engine kind of red. And that's the person who just kind of bowls other people over. They're the natural boss of life. even if no one asks them to be the boss, they are the natural boss of life. And they are the ones who believe they, they know everything and they have no problem telling you, that you're wrong. So the powerful choleric, though, they're the goal oriented, strong driven personality and they're the ones who really get things done. They don't rest well and they are, you can identify them easily by their body language, which is kind of a lot of pointing, fist for emphasis, hands on the hips, usually accompanied by an expression of I can't believe you did that. And then also, they tend to, because they're very goal oriented and driven. This is the kind of person that, that when they go from point A to point B, they don't stop along the way. They're very focused and so their foot pattern tends to be kind of heavy and stomping. And if they're on a floor above you, you can hear them just walking across the floor because they tend to be kind of heavy footed now. So that's the top two. Those are both hot colors. Yellow and red are hot colors. And those are both the strong, the outgoing, kind of personality. Then on the bottom two, next going clockwise we have the blue which is the perfect melancholy personality. And this person is the one that is very perfectionistic, lights, likes things neat and tidy. They're the ones that would say if you aren't early you're late. And they're the ones that view life through that filter. They want perfectionism themselves and they expect perfectionism from other people which when they're married to that opposite the popular sanguine, is very frustrating because we popular sanguines are seldom perfect and we tend to be late. So you can see right away where there's some conflict in that. However, the perfect melancholy person is also very gracious, caring and sensitive. Then on the bottom left hand corner we have the green which is the peaceful phlegmatic. And that's the person who's more the watcher of life. they may be in leadership positions, but not because they really wanted to be in a leadership position more because they've been around for a long time. Because they're steady, consistent and reliable. And because of that they often get promoted into positions that they're not really comfortable and they're working with people all day and they're really more of the background person. And if they're working with people all day when they get home at the end of the day, that peaceful phlegmatic represented by their color green really needs time in the la Z boy to relax because they are exhausted to from having to work in a position all day that is not natural to them. So they're, they're easy to get along with. They're the ones that if you say would you like coffee or tea? They'll say I don't care, it doesn't matter, whichever is easiest. So that's a quick overview of the four and I encourage people to visualize them at least in those four quadrants because as I mentioned, the top two are the outgoing, optimistic, energetic kind of person. And the bottom two are that introverted, pessimistic, drained by people, energized by solitude kind of person. But then when you look at the two sides, for example, the powerful choleric, the red with the perfect melancholy, the blue, that person is very work focused. They're not very relationship focused. When I'm speaking on this topic, I like to reference that person as corporate America's favorite person because they have the drive and the get it done and the motivation of the powerful choleric, but yet the detail conscious perfectionistic tendencies of the perfect melancholy. So they're very work or task oriented. The left to the yellow on the top and the green on the bottom. Popular, sanguine, peaceful, phlegmatic. They are much more relationship focused. So while the other two, the other vertical combination I like to say is corporate America's favorite person, the popular sanguine and the peaceful phlegmatic in one person. And again people will have varying degrees. Some are, I'm like close to 50, 50, but some will be more like 60, 40, 80, 20, but it'll give you an idea. But those that are on the left, I like to say they are everyone's favorite person because they have the outgoing, fun nature of the popular sanguine, but yet the easygoing, not demanding nature of the peaceful phlegmatic. So that's, that's a quick overview of what I call the personalities. And that's the basis of my book Wired that Way.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 14:42

Yeah, I was going to, that was going to be my next question. You know, kind of tell listeners about your book and what they can expect when they read it and where they can get it.

>> Marita Littauer: 14:51

Well, Wired that way, the best way to get it honestly is through Amazon. I do sell it but actually it's cheaper through Amazon so just go to Amazon and buy it there. They also if you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can get a Kindle version of it free. So that's, that's a great way to get it. But we also have an online personality profile at my website which is the personalities dot com, the word, the T H and then personalities plural, the personalities dot com. We have an online version of the personality profile and we have a paper version of it as well. And a lot of companies use those for fact. I just shipped out 100 today to one corporate client, another 100 today to a different corporate client. So in corporate, kind of like a seminar setting, that people tend to like the paper version but one on one, the online version or one at a time is what I mean. The online version is great and it's only $4 for that online personality profile. And you know there's a lot of different personality systems out there today, but there's some unique things, in the Wired that Way program that are, are not. You asked me what, what do people expect when they read the book. These are some of the things they'll expect. First off Is we have a whole chapter on what I call the visible clues. And I gave you a little of that today. as we're talking about it, I gave you a little bit about how to identify other people's personality. And I always like to say, you know, you can have someone take the personality profile. And in fact, I encourage people to do that, of course. But if you're in a difficult relationship with someone at work, for example, it'll be hard for you to take that paper personality profile and go up to that person and say, excuse me, I'm having a tough time with you. Could you take this personality profile so I can figure you out? You know, that doesn't work for most people. And so if you know how to visibly identify someone's personality, I find that you can almost identify someone else's personality almost more accurately than if you had them take the personality profile. Because a lot of people have baggage tied up in who they think they are. There's what their parents wanted them to be, what their teachers want them to be, what their boss wanted them to be, what their spouse wants them to be. And so for many people, they have a hard time really identifying who they are. But if that, that's not everybody, but there are people that, that for which that is the case. But if you know what to watch for, the visible clues, you can almost more accurately identify their personality. So that's one of the things the visible clues to identifying someone else is. Personality is one of the things that's unique. Another thing that's unique is when we talk about different personality types. This is far more than just a, label. And I've heard many times people don't like personality typing programs because they'll say, oh, that puts you in a box. In our approach, we strongly emphasize that this is a starting place for you. Identifying your personality is just the starting place. And that what you want to do is to grow and to mature so that you aim towards living in your strengths, not in your weaknesses. Because no matter what your personality is, if you're living in your weaknesses, that's someone no one wants to be with. And no matter what your personality is, if you're living in your strengths, that's someone everybody wants to be with. So that's another different feature that we have is looking at, ah, growing beyond that, living in your strengths. another one we talk about that's unique is the emotional needs when you identify, and I mentioned that earlier, but when you can identify the emotional needs of that person that you're in Relationship with again, friendship, work, marriage or romantic relationship, whatever. We all come prepackaged with different emotional needs. And when I can identify the emotional needs of others, and then again you have to care enough to step outside of who I am naturally. But for the sake of the relationship and having a good relationship, giving that person the emotional needs, giving them what they need, that's where we can see really differences in relationship. And along with that there's different communication styles that work for different people, based on their personality type. And that's some of what you'll find in the book Wired that way.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 19:55

Okay, well, tell us about the Best Life project.

>> Marita Littauer: 19:59

Well, the Best Life project is something I started new almost three years ago now. And it really, it's, it's for women. My personality stuff is not just for women. But the Best Life project is ideally for women, although there's a lot of information there that would benefit anybody. But it's targeting women over 60 who. So I, I have found, as I am over 60 myself, that there's many women in my age group who kind of feel like life is over. They're, they're retired and they kind of feel lost without their career. Their kids are grown and out of the house many times we're, they're widows. I have many of my friends who are widows. I'm not in that place myself, but many of my friends are and they feel they're kind of at a loss and they feel like life is over for them. And the best life project is to encourage them with inspiration, ideas and instruction that's fun and positive to help them, live their best life. And to look at this plus 60 plus age as really the best time in our lives as long as we have our health and we have resources and. Oh gosh, I just lost my train of thought on what the third thing is. Health resources. Oh, and time. Yeah, that's like retirement is time. Sorry about that. Health resources and time. As long as we have those three things, the intersection of them is what I call the sweet spot where we can be living our best life. And so we, there's, it's a blog basically and we offer two to three articles most weeks. Occasionally, especially like during Christmas, we only posted one article a week, but they're timely to the season. And there are two or three new articles a week that we post that are, ah, targeting that 60 plus woman.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 21:54

Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

>> Marita Littauer: 22:00

Well, I'm semi retired now so other than promoting a Wired that way in its 20th year, which is kind of my focus at the moment, and, and I do some paintings. That's my hobby and I'm a hobby chef. But I don't have any upcoming projects that, that your listeners really need to be aware of. I hate to say. Well, I don't really hate to say because I'm living my best life. I'm having a good time.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 22:22

Absolutely. What though at your website again, it

>> Marita Littauer: 22:25

is the personalities.com is for all the information on the personalities and for the best life project, it's simply best life project.com. however, best and life has a hyphen. So it's best hyphen life project dot com. Unfortunately, best life project without a hyphen was already taken. So best Life or best hyphen life project dot com.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 22:53

All right, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have for the listener.

>> Marita Littauer: 23:02

Well, I encourage people to look at the Wired that way material because relationships are hard for most of us. I mean any long term relationship, whether it be a friendship, an employer, or a marriage or romantic relationship, there's going to be times that are stressful and wearing and if you are aware of, of each other's personality, it can make a real difference. I like to use the

Bible verse Romans 12: 23:28

18, which says if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. And that's like God is giving us a disclaimer if possible. It's like, I know you can't really do this, but try if possible. Second part says, so far as it depends on you, that means for each and every one of us, it is our responsibility to do what we can. Last part of the verse. To be at peace with all men and the personalities offers such a tool.

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 24:06

All right ladies and gentlemen, so get on there. Take that personality test. Check out, the book, you know, keep up with everything that Marita's up to on our websites. Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Visit www.craveball337.com to sign up for our new newsletter that was just launched and to keep up with more information on the show and share the site to everybody that you know in the email newsletter. thank you for listening and supporting the show and Marita, thank you for all that you do and thank you for joining me.

>> Marita Littauer: 24:43

My pleasure. It's great to talk with you for

>> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball): 24:45

more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveballuh337.com until next time, keep Living the dream.