The Quiet and Strong Podcast, Especially for Introverts
The Quiet and Strong Podcast, Especially for Introverts
Ep 250 - Harnessing Introvert Strengths For Success with David Hall
Join David Hall in celebrating the 250th episode of the Quiet and Strong Podcast.
Dive into the world of introverts, bust common myths, and discover how to harness your strengths for success. Whether you're an introvert looking to embrace your natural gifts or an extrovert wanting to understand introversion better, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.
From leadership to personal growth, this milestone episode covers it all! Listen in and Be Strong!
Episode link: QuietandStrong.com/250
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Contact the Host of the Quiet and Strong Podcast:
David Hall
Author, Speaker, Educator, Podcaster
quietandstrong.com
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david [at] quietandstrong.com
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Minding Your Time: Time Management, Productivity, and Success, Especially for Introverts
David Hall [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to episode 250 of the Quiet and Strong podcast, especially for introverts. I'm your host, David hall, and the creator of quietandstrong.com this is a weekly podcast where we talk about the strengths and needs of introverts along with strategies for success. As we always say, introversion is not something to fix, but to be embraced. And I'm excited to celebrate with you and I appreciate you and your support of this show, you know, the last year, the last at least 50 episodes, and the great guests that we've had on. So we're gonna do a little review and recap and really celebrate who you are as an introvert. And also, no matter if you're introvert or extrovert, you have introverts in your life. So we're going to get into all that.
David Hall [00:01:06]:
And please remember to subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a review or rating that will help other people find the show and also just mean a lot to me and, and please reach out. Tell me what you liked about the last 50 episodes or key takeaway you had. Again, there's so much that we can do to find success, but we're likely to find it when we embrace our natural strengths and gifts and not try to be something we're not. When we live authentically is really the key. So as, as a review, introversion, what is it? What is introversion and what's it not? So introversion means we're tuning inward. More often than not, we're in our world of ideas. And of course, everybody goes inward. Everybody pays attention to what's going on around them.
David Hall [00:02:11]:
But as introverts, we're spending more time in our inner world and we have great imaginations. We can come up with some great ideas. But we have to understand that as introverts, we're tuning inward. We're thinking before we're speaking. And as I'm talking about introversion, extroversion, I always use words like generally, usually, because nobody does everything all the time. So usually introverts are going to think first and then speak, Sharing what they think is most important. Extroverts are going to think out loud. Most of the time, it's just natural.
David Hall [00:02:59]:
It's not something that we choose. But the way that we communicate is natural for us. But we can learn to use our gifts the best. So a big strategy for introverts is preparation. You know, we're thinking. We like to think ahead of time. So it's great to prepare for our presentations, meetings, and do the thinking ahead. Of time as much as possible.
David Hall [00:03:27]:
You're not going to ever be able to prepare for everything, but. But prepare as much as you can and so that you can really share your great ideas, you know, in whatever format that is. A couple myths that we regularly bust on this show. Introversion does not equal shyness. It's funny because people sometimes equate the two terms, but I know shy extroverts. So shyness isn't whether you turn inward or outward. It's a lack of confidence. And the cool thing about it is if you are shy, if you lack confidence, if you're not able to do the things you want to do and approach the people and situations you want to approach, you can get better at that.
David Hall [00:04:14]:
You can gain confidence. For me, it was just learning what my introversion is and that I do generally think and then speak and then people around me might be thinking out loud and prefer that. So learning the different styles has given me a lot of confidence, you know, understanding. It's a gift that I'm thinking deeply. I can come up with some great ideas and so can you. Another myth that we regularly bust is introverts don't like people. We all like people. We just may prefer people in different settings and different doses.
David Hall [00:05:04]:
We may prefer more one on one settings or small groups, but we absolutely like people. It's, it's not, it's not a shame, it's not a introvert thing that we don't like people. And at the same time, because we tune inward, we need to have some time alone. Time alone could be for recharge. Sometimes that's the people spout that as the main definition, but it's more than that. You know, we definitely need to recharge after certain draining activities. Maybe going to the traditional networking event is going to be draining, but also we need time to think, to focus, to get some work done. So we need time alone for a lot of things.
David Hall [00:05:53]:
So since we do like our family and friends and collaborating at work, we just need to strike that balance. Find okay, what time do I need to focus, what time do I want to spend with others and how to navigate that. And then one more thing. I never call anything extroverted. Like, I've been doing this podcast again, 250 episodes. Some people might say, oh, are you tapping into your extra version to do that? No, no, I've just learned how to prepare, I've learned how to manage my energy. And I love this. I love having such great guests on.
David Hall [00:06:39]:
But I don't say I'm an extrovert. Everything I do, I'm. I'm at heart an introvert. And I'm a deep thinker, but I can definitely learn to harness that. But nothing that I do, no matter how social I am, giving a public speech, networking, I'm an introvert. Doesn't make me an extrovert. So anyway, there's just some of the things about introversion. So just thinking of the last 50 episodes, you know, this, this past year, we've had so many great guests.
David Hall [00:07:20]:
We've had leadership, coaches, authors, consultants talking about introversion or some area that they're expert in. Often my guests are introverts. Sometimes there are experts in introversion like I claim to be, and that's what we talk about. Sometimes they're an introvert who's leaned into their introverted gifts for success in some way, and they want to share that strategy for success. And then sometimes, you know, I could probably count them. But we've had some extroverts on the show too. But an important part for me to have an extrovert on is that they really understand introversion. You know, they're not continuing to spread any myths.
David Hall [00:08:14]:
They don't see it as a weakness. They just see it as a natural difference that we can all learn to embrace. You know, we've had entrepreneurs, business founders talking about how to be successful in business. We've had specialists in productivity. You know, part of that could be how to manage remote work, how to find your focus. And my first book was on time management and productivity, especially for introverts. It's called minding your time. And what I learned was as a busy introvert, I'm studying time management, productivity, and I'm learning, oh, there's certain things I need, like I mentioned earlier, preparation that aren't being called out in these books.
David Hall [00:09:17]:
Also, just finding the time to be with your thoughts is so important. And public speaking is a regular topic. Sometimes the whole episode is devoted to public speaking. Sometimes it's just part of. Part of what the guest is sharing. That's a piece of what they want to say about introversion. And introverts can be amazing public speakers. Again, we just need to learn our path to success.
David Hall [00:10:00]:
And another myth that I regularly bust is introverts don't have a lot to say. We do. We're always thinking. So public speaking can be a really good way to share our thoughts. You know, one to many or on this podcast, I talk with a guest one on one, and we're able to share that with many. So It'll continue to be a great topic. And, you know, I've had experts in public speaking, and they'll tell you many of the great speakers out there that you've heard of are introverts, so keep that in mind. We've had talks about recruiting.
David Hall [00:10:49]:
We've had talks about workplace inclusion. We've talked about AI And AI Is constantly changing. There's things that I couldn't do six months ago that easily can do now. And it's just so important to keep up and figure out how to use it for your good, how to use it to be productive, how to use it to save you time, how to use it to be more effective. And we'll continue to have that as a topic on the show. And then we've had plenty of episodes about life transitions. We had one on retirement, not on the financial aspects, but on the social aspects also. Just sometimes it's time to change careers.
David Hall [00:11:45]:
And we've had good speakers on that, good guests on that as well. It's like, how do you change your career? Or sometimes it's just tweaking your career and avoiding burnout, really setting your priorities and goals and what do you want to accomplish? And we've talked a lot about personal development. You know, how can we continue to grow? How can we develop a better mindset? There's been guests that have talked about overcoming imposter syndrome. Do you ever feel, you know, I don't really deserve this? We all have, but there's ways to overcome that and fight that and fight perfectionism. So, Ken, so many great guests I've been fortunate to have on the show. And it's really about embracing introversion. It's about being authentic and not trying to be something that you're not. Have you tried to be something you're not? I have.
David Hall [00:13:12]:
And, you know, I often say, too, I felt like something was wrong with me. You know, like I could see people more at ease in social situations. I could see people more at ease and giving speeches and presentations. Why can't it be like that? And I tried to act like extroverted friends and colleagues that I knew. And what happens is you're not as effective, and it's draining. So learning to like, the networking event is a common one that gives introverts trouble. You know, it's going to this event, and the expectation is you're supposed to bounce around from person to person as fast as you can to get to know everybody. Right? I've tried that.
David Hall [00:14:14]:
Didn't work very well. But instead of trying that Which I've seen work very well for extroverts trying something that works for introverts. And also guests have talked about this too. But really, what's my goal for this event? Who do I really need to talk to? I'm not going to remember. If I bounce around from person to person, that's not going to be effective for me. But who can I make a good connection with? Because we do want to make connections, but typically they're deeper. We don't love small talk. We don't love staying there for a long time.
David Hall [00:15:03]:
We want to get to the deeper conversations, things that are meaningful to us, things that are important to us. So. And as in his example of embracing introversion is just learning how to approach a networking event differently now. I used to be terrible at small talk. I'm much better. And it's. Some of it comes with thinking about how do you prepare? Are there, you know, I'm going to this networking event. Are there things that I want to talk about? You know, maybe there's things about my business I want to speak about.
David Hall [00:15:40]:
Or maybe I can just really pay attention to what's going on in the environment. Maybe there's food. You can talk about the food. You can talk about lots of things. We just want to move on to the deeper conversations, but normally we have to start with small talk. And the other thing is, as we think before we speak, there's going to be a little silence. Just be okay with it. If it's silent, that means nobody's talking, it's not just you.
David Hall [00:16:19]:
And just relax and just understand. I can do small talk. I want to get to something deeper here, but I can get started. You gotta, you gotta break the ice. Normally you can't just jump into a deep conversation with someone you don't know well. With someone you know well, you might just jump into a deep conversation and it's awesome. So what makes a great leader? We've talked about this, had some great guests about leadership. Introverts can be amazing leaders.
David Hall [00:17:03]:
But the approach that you take as an introvert at to leadership may be different than your extroverted friend. Tap into the power of your deep thinking and your reflection. We're good at reflection. You know, you tried something new, didn't quite go as planned. We have the ability to think about that and sit with it, let it roll around in our heads and come up with, you know what? This worked well. I'm going to try this next time. We can come up with some great solutions. As a leader, you're probably likely going to lead introverts and extroverts.
David Hall [00:18:02]:
It's important to understand the things that we're talking about. It's important to understand how communication is different. You know, there's things like preparing an agenda. Introverts that you are working for, you need that they. They want to think ahead of time. You know, for me, I want to have a look at the agenda, see if I need to do any research. I'm probably going to write down topics I want to be sure to cover points I want to make. Maybe I have a couple questions.
David Hall [00:18:34]:
I might write those down, too. So it's kind of like I make my own little agenda. So we don't have to be the loudest to be a great leader. You do have to be committed, and people need to know what you're thinking. You need to share your strategy. Sometimes that's challenged. You know, we're. We tend to be more private as introverts.
David Hall [00:19:10]:
And so it's important for us to share our strategy and get to know the people on your team. You know, get to know what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, what is the best way forward as a strategy for success. And I like to think it's so much better to focus on our strengths and also focus on outcomes. It needs to be okay that people work in different ways. There may be some things that it's not negotiable. Everybody has to do something this particular way, but for the most part, we all have gifts and, you know, what's the goal? What's the outcome? It's okay if this person goes about it a little bit differently than that person. We've talked a lot about productivity on the show, and again, it's just different for introverts. We need time to think, time to plan, time to dream, time to be strategic.
David Hall [00:20:34]:
And of course, as things are draining, you know, maybe you went and gave a great presentation, but now you need a break. It's time to recharge. And that might be sitting quietly. You might still be working. It might be working quietly. It might be going for a walk, run all kinds of things, but figuring out how you need to prepare for things and how you need to find time for focus. Because guess what? Multitasking, it's a myth. People talk about, like, how great they are at multitasking, but in reality, as humans, we can think of one thing at a time.
David Hall [00:21:31]:
And so if we're trying to do more than one thing, losing our place, where did I leave off? We're likely, more likely to make Mistakes. So the better we can find focus, the more efficient and at peace we will be getting our work done. And we also talk just a lot about the future of work. What's it looking like? You know, do you like working in a remote environment or do you not? But yet you need to. What can you learn as an introvert about working in a remote environment? We still need people, we still need connection. You know, during the pandemic, and this is why I even started this show during the pandemic I was, you know, I all of a sudden was working from home for the first time and I was hearing, oh, introverts, they're just loving this, you know, spending all this time alone. And I'm like, there's some lonely introverts out there. You know, we're, we're not seeing anybody outside of our house really.
David Hall [00:22:52]:
And so, you know, if you are working from home, you need to find ways to connect. And just in general, that's a topic that we talked a lot about too. How do we build relationships? How do we build connections? And it's, it's common for us to have smaller groups of friends, have smaller connections, but deeper. And there's nothing wrong with that. And it really comes down to what do you want, setting your goals, setting your priorities and deciding what do you want and thinking about your personality type. How can I get there? You know, if I want to build connections, how do I prepare for a little small talk to get the conversation going? How do I follow up with people so you can have whatever you want. Just learning the best strategy for you if you're, especially if you're an introvert is the idea here. And like I said, be yourself.
David Hall [00:24:46]:
You know, sometimes that just seems like corny advice, but it's true, you know, don't try to be somebody you're not because the person you are is pretty amazing. We all have amazing gifts, so use those and don't compare yourself to somebody else. So just as a summary, some key things are become self aware. Learn what your strengths and needs are. Now on the show we do discuss other personality, other personality types. We've talked about neurodiversity this year. We've talked about being a highly sensitive person. There's other aspects of your personality that come into play.
David Hall [00:25:58]:
Get to know those. On this show we talk a lot about introversion because I see the misunderstanding about it. And if you didn't know, half the population are introverts. And sometimes people think, oh, that's a high number. And it's not because There's a lot of, there's a lot of confident and outspoken introverts that you may be classifying as an extrovert. So. And sometimes people even say it's a little higher than 50%. So get to know all the aspects of your personality.
David Hall [00:26:43]:
One way is to take a. Take some assessments. You can get a free type finder personality assessment on the Quiet and Strong website, you know, quietandstrong.com and you can take that free assessment. And assessments are tools. You are who you are. Just the assessment might point out some things to you, either confirming some things or giving you some things to think about. But they're not perfect. So use it as a tool.
David Hall [00:27:14]:
It's not meant to be like a prison. Like you're, you're locked into this. So check that out. Figure out what you need to accomplish. If it's public speaking, what do you need to do? Or sometimes it's not even giving a speech or presentation, it's just speaking up in a meeting. Your ideas are so valuable and that's definitely a part of this show. I want you to be able to share your ideas confidently and be known for your ideas. I had a guest on the show and she'd say, you know, she was often quiet in meetings, but she'd worked so hard to develop a reputation that the CEO would turn to her and say, hey, what do you think about this? Because he knew she had some ideas and great ideas to share.
David Hall [00:28:37]:
And we've had a lot of guests talk about mindset and it really improving our mindset. A book that I really recommend on mindset is called that Mindset by Carol Dweck. And you know, she talks about a growth mindset, which is meaning you can always keep improving, keep learning versus a fixed mindset, which means you are who you are and that's, that's it. You're good or bad, it's done. But I like how she talks about the power of yet. So on your journey, maybe some of these things I'm talking about you still need to work on, which is great. You know, maybe it's. I'm not able to speak to a crowd, just add the word yet on there and then find ways to build up to that.
David Hall [00:29:49]:
You know, find ways to volunteer to give presentations, find ways to volunteer to be able to speak up and be heard and that kind of thing. So. 250. Thanks again for your part in supporting this show. Celebrate who you are as an introvert. It's amazing. Again, extroverts are amazing too. We just bring different gifts, and too often we're comparing one to another and it doesn't work out very well.
David Hall [00:30:53]:
So if you haven't heard the last 50 episodes, have a listen. Keep listening. As I always say, get to know your introverted strengths and needs, and be strong. Reach out. You can reach out to me@daviduyandstrong.com or you can go to the quietandstrong.com website and contact me through that. I'd love to hear from you what your takeaways are. I'd love to hear what your challenges still are and if there's topics that we could explore more deeply for you. So if you have a guest idea, or maybe it's yourself, you know, reach out and pitch me that idea.
David Hall [00:31:37]:
So celebrate your introversion and be strong.