Wednesday, January 18, 2012

On Being An Introvert

I’ve never kept it a secret that I am an extreme introvert. I love my privacy and solitude. This doesn’t mean I hate people. I like people but as an introvert I find people exhausting at times and my experience is that most people are best enjoyed in small doses. Group activities are often very stressful for me. I don’t apologize for any of this. It’s who I am and it’s the way I am hard wired. As an introvert I am not anti-social. I am just very comfortable with myself and I am happiest in my own little world, a world that is mostly inside of me. There are a lot of other people like me, and some of you are in this group, but we don’t always get noticed. Our quietness sometimes makes others think we are standoffish or mad about something. If introverts are the kind of people that hate to be the center of attention, extroverts are the kind of people that seem to demand attention. Where other people often exhaust me, an extrovert gets all their energy from being around others. In general, extroverts hate to be alone. Introverts tend to be thinkers. That doesn’t mean we are smarter than everyone else although I tend to think we are (smile). Introverts usually think before they talk. Extroverts often talk before they think. I thought about all of this after reading the article on the attached link. The article makes some great points about the typical work environment most of us are in. I hate it when my cube is out in the open, especially in a high traffic area. Whenever possible I try to be in a cube in a corner with as much privacy and solitude as I can find. I am much more productive and a lot happier.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

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