The Path To Embracing My Inner Introvert – And Yours

When I saw Kristi Daeda generous offer through Blogger Linkup, I didn’t hesitate to take her offer: “It’s my holiday gift to you — guest posts. Take a day off, relax, enjoy time with your friends and family, and let me do the grunt work.” She said she would select just 10 blogs from the responses so I was stretching my introvert decision making and jumped on it! That’s how you now have the pleasure to read about The Path To Embracing My Inner Introvert – And Yours, by Kristi Daeda.

Much of my work with people in career transition is evaluating strengths. Sometimes, people have been working for twenty years and haven’t had to step back and ask themselves — is this right for me? Am I on the right path? There’s nothing like being out of work to give you the time, space and motivation to ask these questions.

So I work with them on evaluating the right fit for their needs. We talk about where they’ve had success, where they’ve struggled, what they love and what they never, ever want to do again. And we come back to the question of strengths — what are your natural gifts that make you unique, and uniquely marketable? How have those strengths supported your success in the past? How can we harness these strengths moving forward?

From there we look at job paths that make sense with someone’s specific skill set and strengths. It’s at this point that people let slip the “I” word.

“What do you think about sales?” I might suggest. They get quiet. “Well…” A pause. “I’m not sure that I’d want to work with people that much. I think that I might be… some kind of introvert or something.”

And I try not to laugh.

It’s easy for me to help people embrace introversion as a strength rather than the weakness that most people seem to take it as. I’m an introvert myself.

Growing up I was pretty painfully shy. I disliked attention. I kept to myself, and my studies.

I was branded a “nerd,” and somewhat socially isolated because I found sleepover parties to be an unfathomably tiring endeavor.

Around high school, I decided to force myself to be something else. I became involved in theater, convinced that by placing myself in front of people on an ongoing basis, that it would help me overcome my “shyness.”

And to a certain extent, it worked. I developed the ability to get up in front of people confidently. But I still found that afterwards, while the rest of the cast was charged up, I was wiped out.

Now, I do extensive public speaking, which is hugely effective for my business. But I’ve learned some tactics to help me be more effective in public, face-to-face situations — tactics I share with my clients.

1. Know your land mines. Watch yourself for energy drain, and pay attention to where it’s coming from. You may find that you do well with a high level of face time for up to two hours, but after that your effectiveness decreases. Or you may be okay in person but have a harder time over the phone. By watching which situations are most draining for you, you can better plan your work to take advantage of your strengths.

2. Understand the value of the activity. It’s easier to motivate yourself out of your comfort zone if you have a clear understanding of the end goal. Conversations are crucial to closing deals. If you want to make money, you have to understand the role that new relationships play in that process.

3. Don’t try to do it how other people do it. People who are extroverts are not good models for how to be successful yourself in developing profitable business relationships. While they may be able to spend an entire day on the phone, or moving from meeting to coffee date to networking event, that kind of schedule may be unsustainable for someone who doesn’t enjoy that kid of activity. Learn from their successes, but apply what you learn to your own style and personality.

Here’s the great part: being a natural introvert gives you an edge on extroverts when dealing with certain personality types, or in situations that require more in-depth discussion or analysis, and in managing your own time and efforts. Your other strengths can give you the advantage.

I’ve come to understand that excellence comes from embracing who you are, not who others think you should be. How can you make the most of your unique gifts?

Kristi Daeda is a career coach, blogger and personal marketing strategist helping professionals nationwide create their own career opportunities. She is the founder of LaunchSummit, a free web-based educational event for job seekers, and blogs on job search, management, leadership, networking and more at Career Adventure.

So Kristi asked, how can you make the most of your unique gifts?