Mighty people

I think I'm going to have to put this blog on hiatus for awhile, probably permanently. Sure, I have the usual excuses like time, inspiration, laziness, real life, other priorities, etc. But there is another reason why I think this chapter needs to end, possibly to be picked up by another.

If you read over these blog posts, I think you'll find everything useful that I'll ever have to say on the topic of introverts and social media. I think I've made all of the important points already.

I was never interested in making a home for people to vent their frustrations about being an introvert and how hard it made their lives. I was more interested in providing some ideas on how people could use their innate skills in ways that better matched their personality orientations. Well, here they are!

I could write a detailed review of The Introvert Advantage, but after a certain point I'm going to be eating into the author's revenue stream, you know? (Buy the book and read it; I highly, highly recommend it. I think she says everything important there).

I've recently read one of Seth Godin's books called The Dip. One thing that he talks about is how successful people actually do quit, and quit strategically, on the way to acheiving some goal. He also talks about "the Dip", a symbol which embodies all of the hardships, challenges, difficulties, and barriers to becoming expert or successful at something, whether in personal life or in business. If you really want to succeed at something, you need to realize that the Dip is out there and it needs to be tackled. If you don't want the end goal that badly, so badly that you aren't prepared to get through the Dip (or even lean into it and push harder), then maybe you shouldn't even start.

I think I'm strategically quitting here, but not necessarily because writing this blog has been hard and that I'm afraid of a "dip" looming before me with this blog. I'm setting this blog aside, perhaps permanently, because I'm not sure that investing more time and effort into it is going to put me where I might want to be a few years from now. Frankly, I think I've probably covered this area to the extent that I will be able to. Instead of looking at this as a blog or ongoing journal, maybe it's just a mini-series that is best ended.

I know that there are a few people who have been reading this blog regularly so to you I extend my thanks for your support to date. I will continue to write at Broadcasting Brain, plus other projects.

To everyone: if there's one message that I hope you all got, it's that introverts have as much chance to be successful in social media, or other fields, as extroverts. There are plenty of resources out there for us to use and grow. There are a number of role models out there who you can use as mentors and guides. Read The Introvert Advantage and learn the lessons on how to use your energy carefully and wisely - that's one of our biggest challenges.

Finally, I'll leave you with some advice from Bigweld in the movie Robots:

"See a need, fill a need."

"You can shine no matter what you're made of!"

Introducing The Introvert Advantage!

As mentioned previously, I’ve recently purchased Marti Olsen Laney’s book The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extroverted World. I’m just started to read it, but it definitely looks to be a valuable read!

I’ll be reviewing the book in sections, here’s a preview:


Prelude – Marti talks about her formative years as she came to terms with being an introvert.

Overture – Marti talks about introverts and extroverts

Here’s where the meat of the book lies:

Part 1 – A Fish Out Of Water (describing the introvert)
Part 2 – Navigating the Extroverted Waters (living in a largely extroverted world)
Part 3 – Creating the “Just Right” Life (just like it suggests!)



Part 1 review starts next week!

Guest post by Nick Bujra!

Hey everyone! Here's our first guest post, sent by E-Mail from Nick Bujra (sorry, I don't have a website for him). I think that Nick exposes the inner thoughts of the introvert very well.

Here we go!

My New Year resolution is not to have one. That way, I can no longer break it.

Promising myself the same thing, year after year.

I've decided that it's time to stop desiring and start wanting.

Of course, there might be a few hiccups along the way.

Who knows how long it takes to get out that mindset?

I always seem to hang around the edges of the 'cool' crowd.

At school, at college, at work.

Always getting invites to go out, but turning them down.

On the rare occasions I do go, I feel I never really fit in.

However, it's completely different on an individual level.

People seem to trust me with all their secrets.

one night stands, abortions. You name it, I've heard it.

So whilst I don't have that many friends, I guess you could say, that I was friend of the world.

Fit in everywhere, but don't fit in.

And I guess I have met some along the way.

In fact I must have done, otherwise I wouldn't be here!

There just seems to be always something, just stopping me from taking that final, last step.

And I just don't know what it is. Believe me, if I did, all my problems would have been solved by now.

But when I think abut it,I guess the real reason why I don't want join in

is that I no longer want to be rejected.

If you like this guest post, post a comment and suggest some more topics for me.

Being a friend of the world, you learn a lot!

Mighty introverts working together

Short post this week: I've been busy doing some posting and social media stuff with my other blog. In fact, a fellow introvert and I have worked together this week to promote some stories to the front page of Sphinn. Introverts? Promotion? Who thought?

I want to thank SpostareDuro for helping me promote a blog post or two this week. I also want to thank Shana Albert for being a great interview subject and helping with the promotion. I don't think she's an introvert, but who cares? She wrote great answers to the questions that I wrote.

Introverts, we can do mighty things separately, but we can do even more when we work together.

Think about it while you enjoy your weekend. Cheers!

A short update on posting frequency

Hello everyone. Given my other projects I'll probably be posting 1 - 2 times/week at this blog for the foreseeable future. I'm planning to make Friday the day for new posts.

I've mentioned this before to some people and I'll mention it again: I welcome guest posters! As long as the topic involves both introversion and social media, blogging, or new technologies in some way, I'd be happy to publish it.

If you'd like to contribute, please E-Mail me at dykemans [at] nbnet [dot] nb [dot] ca.


Cheers!

Five easy ways for an introvert to communicate

Mighty introverts, we can think and analyze very well, but sometimes we don't show that same brilliance to the world to our best advantage when we're face-to-face with other people. Shy people (who may or may not be introverted) may feel the same way. Sometimes it's easier to put our ideas down on paper or the computer screen so that we can plan them out and express them properly.

Web 2.0 and other Internet technologies have given us great communication tools that will allow us to communicate as well as anyone.

Here are the five easy ways for an introvert to communicate:

1) E-mail: you can compose E-Mails on your own time and craft the message that feels write to you. You can take as long as you want to get it right the first time. Just make sure that you are using an effective E-Mail writing strategy. If you are looking for ideas, you might want to try this article about writing effective E-Mails. Don't worry about the heavy emphasis on business E-Mails, this guidelines will apply in many scenarios.

2) Instant messaging: short, quick bursts of thought in real-time that can still be meaningful. Emoticons can help you deal with your feelings in a humorous and positive way. Believe it or not, if you get your audience's (nearly) undivided attention, you can have a good conversation without having to worry about body language, tone, or word selection. You can just send and receive the message without the physical filters. There are many IM clients out there, including AOL, (Microsoft) Live, Yahoo, and Google.

3) Twitter - you can broadcast to the world similar to the way that IM works, but you can reach a massive audience. Twitter is part of the microblogging phenomenon. You can also direct "Tweets" to individuals and/or send private messages. Beware the 140 character limit, however! You might want to couple this one with instant messaging or E-Mail for better effect. Caroline Middlebrook has written an excellent Twitter guide.

4) Blog - you can set up a swell blog like this one! ;)

5) Blog comments - blog comments can provide an excellent way to both make intelligent, thoughtful commentary while getting yourself noticed. Again, Caroline Middlebrook and ProBlogger have both written excellent stuff about blog comments. Note: search their blogs because they have multiple posts on blog commenting.


What are you waiting for? Give it a try!