Introverts have the amazing ability to be completely independent of others. Unlike extroverts, we find strength and energy in solitude - we are able to perfectly use the valuable time we spend with ourselves to fully concentrate and focus on what we are currently working on.
A sports commentator once called it "working with yourself", which must be done if you are thinking of becoming a champion in any field. In turn, psychologists speak in this context about "deliberate and purposeful improvement of skills". Simply put, it is an exercise of deliberately repeating an activity many times, with constant and full attention to the skill we intend to acquire, which is beyond our reach until we do everything exactly as it should be.
Deliberately, focused and usually alone work is crucial in achieving mastery in almost every field.
We introverts are uniquely predestined to perform solitary exercises leading to proficiency in music, sports and other areas. For example, Kobe Bryant, the big star of American basketball, made over a thousand throws of the ball into the basket during arduous training every day. On the other hand, Conrad Tao, a young, highly talented pianist, who, at the age of 17, performed in the famous Carnegie Hall in New York, where he was a teenager, spent most of his time alone in his family apartment, practicing the piano for many hours while his parents were at work.
And of course we have Stephen Wozniak - the designer of the first personal computer and co-creator of Apple, whom we met in the previous chapter. Woz says he practiced his engineering skills from early childhood. In the autobiography "iWoz" Wozniak describes his passion for electronics, which he showed from an early age. Woz gained his experience and skills slowly and systematically, step by step, by participating in countless school science competitions. - Thanks to this (…) I gained a certain feature that was to help me in the wholemy career: patience. (…) I learned not so much to worry about the result as to focus on the stage I was at and to do what I was doing as perfectly as possible1 .
Woz often worked alone. Since he was a very nice and likeable boy, he had a lot of friends in elementary school. However, as with many technically gifted children, his popularity with his classmates declined significantly when he began attending gymnasium. When Woz was younger, everyone admired him for his scientific and technical ideas and knowledge, but now nobody seemed to care. In addition, Woz did not like "talking about nothing", and the spheres of his interests did not coincide with the spheres of interests of his peers. The difficulties he faced in those years did not discourage him or make him give up his pursuit of his dreams; on the contrary, they probably made it very much stronger. He would never have learned so much about computers, says Woz today, if he hadn't been so shy and didn't leave the house that rarely.
Nobody would like to go through such a difficult period of adolescence of their own free will, but the fact is that the tendency to loneliness demonstrated by teenage Woz and the stubborn and systematic pursuit of what was to turn out to be his life calling are typical features of exceptionally creative people.
Worth knowingAccording to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who in 1990-1995 analyzed the biographies of 91 people who were extremely creative in art, science, business and politics, many of them were loners in adolescence and did not maintain close contacts with their peers, partly because for the latter "their extraordinary curiosity and inquisitiveness as well as a strictly defined sphere of interest seemed strange and incomprehensible". Teenagers who have too rich a social life and do not have time to be alone with themselves often neglect developing their talents, "because practicing a musical instrument or solving math problems requires working in solitude which they hate so much."
One of the superpowers of an introvert is the ability to think carefully, delve into difficult issues, and concentrate fully and for a long time on performing a given task. If we add creativity and ingenuity to it, the results of our work can turn out to be really great, leading us in unexpected and extremely interesting directions. It is only up to you whether you decide to keep the results of your research, your achievements only for yourself, or if you decide to share them with others, with the whole world.Either way, learning to express yourself, your "I" in an honest and open way, with courage and self-confidence, can prove very useful and useful to you.
Here are some tips on how to do it:
Find your medium.Maybe you will discover an application that allows you to create new beats and rapping, or a recipe that will inspire you to bake some extraordinary cake. Or maybe all you need is a sharpened pencil for writing or drawing. Try to find your own medium through which you will be able to express yourself best, most fully and most naturally and freely.
Create.Once you find your calling, give yourself to it with full energy and enthusiasm. Let yourself be absorbed by what you really are passionate about. Practice, train, constantly improve your skills and create.
Look for inspiration in people who are similar to you and who can be a role model for you.Finding someone who can be a role model for you, and who also is an introvert, it will help you to realize that it is possible to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. Many people like you have earned themselves great respect and appreciation for their exceptional creativity, charisma and intelligence. (We present the profiles of many of them on the website of our Quiet Revolution organization, www.Quietrev.com).
Take care of your privacy.Certain diaries and journals are not meant to be read by anyone, and the implementation of certain projects or intentions should be done only by yourself and no one else . Create a safe zone where you can create - write, paint or make music - without worrying about what others think. Take joy and pleasure also from creating something exclusively for yourself …
But also, don't forget to share your accomplishments with others.Let others see or hear what's in your head, what interests and interests you the most . People are often reluctant to share their accomplishments with others because of fear of being criticized. But start by showing what you have created to just one or two people - preferably your closest, most trusted friends. Their opinion can be very helpful, and you will be amazed how much others can like what you create and how highly they can rate your achievements.
Footnotes:
1. Crowd. Anna Wojtaszczyk and Olga Wojtaszczyk (after: Stephen Wozniak, GinaSmith, "iWoz", Studio EMKA, Warsaw 2009).
The text comes from the book "The Silent Power of Introverts. How to Grow Up in a World That Doesn't Stop Talking" Susan Cain, American lawyer, Harvard and Princeton University graduate, self-confessed introvert. The author prefers to listen to speaking, and she prefers chats in a narrow group over group meetings. Cain is also a co-founder of Quiet Revolution, her TED talk has been watched by over 12 million people online.
Susan Cain The silent power of introverts. How to grow up in a world that never stops talking
Original title: Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts
Text copyright © 2016 by Susan Cain
Copyright © for the Polish edition by MT Business
