Episode 290
Career Conversations with David Hall
What Is Introversion?
This is the tendency of turning
inward more. Introverts spend most of their time analyzing what happening o
them and around them. They are more in touch with their feeling and the
feelings of others. They take time to energize and recharge in their lives.
They also need people in their lives unlike what most people think. It is only
that it is different for them. They just need a balance.
Journey into learning oneself
Most introverts at an early age,
think something is wrong with them. They tend to be extroverts only because it
does not work for them. There is this
one point that people forget, Introverts Think then speak while extroverts
speak to think. Understanding this will make you understand more about these
two people. Introverts will tend not to note their surrounding as most of the
time they are in their heads.
Their behaviors come to them
naturally. Most books that are out there, there were written for extroverts
rather than introverts. It's not true to think that introverts generally want
to be alone. They just do not like
excessive exposure to many people. They like a controlled environment.
Time Management
Introverts need to have order in
their lives. The best thing that they do is have a calendar and plan about what
they will be doing. This is unlike most extroverts who just wing it. The
calendar happens to bring order into most introverts' worlds in the corporate
world.
Misconception about podcasting
Most people tend to think that
podcasts are just for introverts. This is far from the truth. Podcasting is for
almost everybody.
Scary Things for an introverts
Putting yourself out there is the
hardest thing for most introverts. Introverts need to be understood more in
society. A study has shown that the number of introverts is 50% of any
population but for some reason, the actual number is shown to be lower. This
recent study just shows that introverts need to be heard more.
Find David on
Transcript
Hi, David. I'm really excited to have you here today. So, the first question I always ask everybody is, do you consider yourself to be an introvert?
[:Yes. Absolutely, Janice. I am an introvert. And that was a long journey to figure it out, figure out that it was truly a gift and that I had certain needs and strengths because of it. But I am an introvert.
[:And so, then the follow up question always is, in that case, what does introversion mean to you?
[:Okay. And that's part of the problem, is I think, you know, there's a lot of different definitions and definitely a lot of myths out there. To me, it is like it sounds. You're turning inward more often than you're not, so you're spending a lot of time in your head. I'm a very analytical person, and so I'm spending a lot of time thinking. A lot of my introvert friends out there that are listening may be more empathic and maybe more in touch with their feelings and the feelings of others. And all of this comes with great strengths and gifts of being able to think and being creative and innovative and having great imaginations. And with that, there are certain needs that you have. You need to take time. And a lot of people will talk about that we need time to spend, to reenergize, to recharge, and that's very important. But I'll also say we need time just to use our gifts. We need time to think, we need time to plan, we need time to focus, time to dream, because we're good at that, and sometimes it's just to have fun. So, we need time to recharge, but we need time to be alone.
[:And you know, along with that, we do need connections, we do need people. It just might look different, but that's a big myth that's out there that introverts don't like people, because we absolutely do. It's just we do need some balance and figure out, you know, what time do I need to spend doing all these things, like thinking and planning and focusing. And when do I want to spend time with family and friends and that type of thing. So, it's definitely a gift, but you have to understand what your needs are.
[:Yeah. Thank you for reiterating that. I'm realizing, because I was speaking to a friend today, I'm just feeling ungrounded. I'm feeling a little scattered and all over the place. And she's like, have you spent any time just like, grounding yourself and thinking. No, I'm always doing stuff, you might want to stop doing that? Yes. Trying to rearrange my calendar to do so. And so can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do? And I say the work because, like me and like many people, we don't just have a job. There are many things that we do that might be related to a job in a career, but a lot of people have side work that they do, or just passions that they follow. So, can you tell me a little bit about the scope of all the things that you did?
[:Yeah, absolutely. And I'll relate it back to the questions that you already asked about my introversion. Because, like a lot of people and I'll get into that, I do have a podcast, and a lot of people on my podcast have talked about their journey just like I'm about to. And most of them start out with, “I thought something was wrong with me.” And that was my case, too. I definitely was an introvert. I wondered, “Why can't I be more ease in conversations like, that person there? Why can't I be more charismatic like that person there?” So, I started studying psychology. I got a Masters in Counselling, and I got a great job at a college and you know, working with students, helping them figure out their plans. And with that, there was a lot of great professional development that came from the college, and a couple of different things happened. I became certified in the Myers Briggs, and that was life changing for me. Just, oh, okay, I am an introvert. And one of the things the facilitators said was, “Introverts think and then speak and extroverts speak in order to think.” I'm like, “Yeah, that is true.”
[:And that was a huge epiphany and realizing, you know what? This is something natural for me, and that's not going to change. And it's a good thing if I understand it. And when you don't understand it, that's when you can have some problems, when you don't understand how your introversion works. And so, while I'm figuring this out, I’m also, there was another professional development opportunity. At the time, it was called strengths quest. It switched names to strengths finder. It's from Gallup. It's now called Gallup Strengths. And that wasn't about introversion, extroversion, but it was about that your strengths come to you very naturally. And I actually got involved as a trainer for that, too, and ended up training all the people in my organization, about 500 people, and did some trainings after that. And it really helped, even though it wasn't specifically about introversion extroversion, it really helped just cement that idea that our gifts come to us very naturally. And I tell a funny story just while I was in this training, over the course of I'm a facilitator, and there's people in the training that are resistant to the training, you know maybe some people in the back of the room with their arms crossed, like, I don't believe anything you're saying.
[:And I was talking to a neighbor and we just had that little small talk conversation, where do you work? Where do you work? Kind of thing. And I told him where I worked and he said, “Oh, yeah, my company is right across the street from yours.” I'm like, “Oh, where do you work?” And he told me, and I'm like, that doesn't ring a bell. And what it made me realize was I had been driving by his company for probably, at this point, probably take ten years, and it's a big place, big signs, but when I'm driving, I'm naturally going inward into my head. I'm naturally thinking, and I'm tuning out his company. But my point of the story is, I just realized that some of the way I am, the analytical gifts I have, comes to me very naturally. It's not something I can change. And so, anyway, I'm figuring out I'm definitely, I’m an introvert. I'm embracing that, at the same time I'm doing this, I'm busy with my job, I run a company with my wife, extremely busy, you know. And I'm studying time management at the same time I'm studying introversion. And in the time management books I'm reading, they're not calling out the needs of introverts.
[:I mean, sometimes they are, but they're not calling it that. So that was my first book was Time Management Success, Productivity especially for introverts, because I realized that as we're looking at our time and our energy, that we need to realize, “Hey, as an introvert, I need to give myself some space, but I also need some time to prepare for things. And that's where I can really be my best.” And so, you know, I put out my book, I started blogging. And then the pandemic came along and there's a lot of talk about introversion. I don't know if you experience that or not, but a lot of people saying introverts love this, they love just being isolated you know, and some of the things weren’t really true. And I have to give more of a voice to this. Again, Janice, I kind of credit you because I heard a presentation you did on podcasting. So podcasting is in the back of my head, you made it sound like you really should do it. It's easy, right? You made it sound easy. And so, I had in my head I wanted to start a podcast. And so, you know, January 2021, you know, the pandemic had been going for a little while and I said, you know, World Introvert Day, which is January 2nd, I'm going to do it.
[:And so, I started doing that. I'm approaching my 100th episode. I've had some great guests and it's just amazing hearing other people's stories, how they approach life, how they have success, whether it's in public speaking or networking or business, whatever it is. So that's kind of where I'm at. I still do have a day job, I help my wife with her business and I'm really pushing this podcast and also trying to write the next book, too.
[:I'm glad to hear that you are writing the next book. I'm not going to ask you to let us know what it is, but I do want to know when it comes out, please.
[:Yes, very soon.
[:And so then, with the fact that you do these multiple things, most people will be very confused at how do you manage to fit all of these things, in these different types of roles, these different types of jobs, as well as being like a human and a partner and everything else while being an introvert.
[:Yeah, absolutely. And that was part of the whole-time management thing. And really, it's just a matter of, okay, what's really important to me? And I think every once in a while, you need to just set aside some time. Maybe for me, it might be a Sunday morning or something you know, where you just have time just to think and reflect on what is most important to me in my job. You know, what projects are just if I completed these, I would consider myself successful. You know what, like right now, I said I'm working on my book. You know what kind of time do I need to give my wife for her business? And I didn't mention I have three kids, too. They're getting older, so that definitely changes things. But it's really just a matter of what are your top priorities and making a place for all of them and realizing you can't do everything, you know. You’re just like what do I want to get done? What's it going to take to do that? Who do I need to help me? That kind of thing.
[:And so, if there's something that you do consistently or regularly that has improved your career and all business and all roles that you are part of?
[:Yeah, definitely. One of the best things that I did is I blocked off the first 90 minutes of my work day and not meeting. In my role, people can schedule meetings for me, I schedule meetings for other people. We have access to each other's calendars. So that 1st 90 minutes is really that time where I can think and focus. It's spending time to look at the week, like you know, what do I have to do? An important part of being an introvert is preparing. We like to think about things before the meeting, before the presentation, before the conversation. If we can give some things some thought, we do a lot better in most cases. So, I often will you know, take time at the beginning of the week or the end of week to really look at the week. And sometimes I might even just all right, there's some back-to-back meetings. Can I squeeze a little space in there and just really take a look at my calendar? What do I need to prepare for? Where could I really use the break? And where can I schedule that in? Kind of thing. So just really using my calendar to my advantage has been something that's important.
[:That is wonderful to hear. And yes, I also live by my calendar. How can I block stuff up? And someone's like, but can I do this thing? Yeah, saying no and boundaries is hard. And with, I've got a random question for you. So with podcasting, because we both do this and we're on a podcast, what is a misconception about podcasting that you've heard?
[:Well, the funny one is that it's not for introverts, right? You're an introvert, you can't be a podcast host. But I love it. It's so much fun. But they're talking about preparing. I do prepare for it you know. You sent me some questions, I send my guest questions. Beforehand, if they have a book, I'll read their book. But it's a great time and it's a great experience. And I think that's a big myth, is that introverts can't do certain things, and that's crazy. It just might look different how we prepare. Somebody told me that Larry King did great interviews for like, 60 years or something and he didn't prepare. And I'm like, that's awesome. He's a great interviewer, but that's not going to be me. If I want to be a great interviewer myself, I'm going to prepare.
[:Yeah, dig in. And so, with thinking about that and roles and jobs and pushing yourself to do something different or unexpected, what has been the scariest thing that you have done? Work related? Work related.
[:Scary? I don't know that anything's been particularly well. Maybe scary, maybe a little things that made me nervous. I think a lot of it was just really putting myself out there to give different presentations or the training I was talking about with Strengths Quest. You know, I did some advanced training, but I volunteered to train everybody in the organization. And it actually was a good, it was a good, it worked out really well because the other trainer was on the other side, more of an extrovert. And I felt like it would really be a good opportunity for people. Some people would probably relate to her more and some people would relate to me, but I volunteered for that and that was I don't know if it was scary, but it definitely made me nervous. It's like just kind of putting yourself out there, like you know, let me do that project or let me do that presentation, or let me train the whole organization on this thing.
[:And so has there been any one or anything that has been influential to you? And why?
[:Like, someone?
[:It could be a this. It could be a person. I know some people are like, this particular object is really influential because it kinda make an award, for example.
[:Yeah. One thing that was powerful during this whole figuring out the introversion thing is I was doing a lot of reading and I went into Barnes and Noble to look for a particular book on introversion, and I didn't find it. And so, I was walking out, just like, on the shelves when you're walking out, there was a book that kind of jumped off the shelf at me. It was Laurie Helgoe, Introvert Power. And just the title itself, just talking about introvert as a power and not something that you need to get over or something that makes you less than, but just introvert power. And another thing that was really influential in there, along with many other things, was just the fact that she showed that introverts make it, up at least half the population. And a lot of people are kind of like give a lot lower numbers. And when they give lower numbers, they don't understand that we are all, none of us are exactly the same. I think that we turn inward. You know we need to spend some time alone, recharging all that good stuff. But there's so many different gifts that introverts have because, anyway, Laurie Helgoe has been a big influence for me.
[:Thank you. Okay, so you mentioned that you are an analytical human and therefore the surprise question is coming up.
[:Okay.
[:Is a hot dog a sandwich?
[:Sandwich? I think I would just call it a hot dog.
[:What would be your reasoning for that?
[:I don't know, because I don't know. Sandwich is different shape or something.
[:Ah okay, thank you. It generally sparks debate just because is it two slices of bread? Is it one slice of bread? Is it does it matter the filling? Is an ice cream sandwich, a sandwich, so on and so forth. So, thank you for that information. Is there anything that you would like the listeners to know about careers, jobs, introversion, hot dogs that you would like to share?
[:Yeah, I would say again that introversion is definitely a gift, that's something to be understood. And when you understand it and can really work in your strengths, honor your needs, it can be very fulfilling. And the other thing just about jobs is I often get the question, and you may too, is what's the best job for introverts? And my answer is the one that you're able to use your strengths and honor your needs and gives you purpose. There's a lot of jobs out there that I think could be done by introverts or extroverts. An introvert might have a different approach to the same job, but could do it very successfully.
[:Yeah, I agree. Thank you. So where can introverts or extroverts find you? On the worldwide web? It's been a long time since I said that the Internet, the interwebs, the space.
[:Yeah, yeah. The best way is quietandstrong.com and that will have links to the podcast and some previous blogs and other things in my book.
[:And your book.
[:Yeah, and my book. Find that in there.
[:That is great. But the book should come first. Yeah, it is a great book. I highly recommend it. And I'm hoping that it reminds me of something like you're doing about time management. For me, it's sort of like energy management and they're so intertwined. But thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. And I look forward to letting everyone know when the book comes out and we'll be following along. Thank you so much today.
[:All right. Thanks, Janice.
