Friday, January 25, 2008

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!"

1 comment:

Susan Leslie said...

I found your blog too late! I always enjoy reading what other people of the introvert persuasion think about. Best to you.