Three Reasons I Like to Keep Quiet

I hate talking. It sounds stupid, but fewer truer words have been spoken. I’m a hardcore introvert and, I guess for my chemistry, it’s part of the deal.

Quickly, let me first say that sharing (especially through conversation) is key to meaningful relationships and teams. Of course, communication is vital. Furthermore, I’m a C+ student (at best) when it comes to verbal communication, but I’m working on it.

As I’ve noted above, I’m clearly biased by both preference and personality type, but I have some thoughts on advantages to this perspective. Here are a couple notes:

1. I’ve learned almost nothing from speaking. Think about that. I open my mouth and it’s nearly guaranteed that I make no progress. The opposite is true if I’m listening. If I’m not teaching an eager student, it’s hard for me to justify running my mouth.

2. Talking about taking action is always easier than taking action. When in doubt, just do the hard thing. We all want actions, or at least the results that come with actions. Yet, I find an incredible propensity in adults to talk about a great deal, while doing relatively very little.

3. I don’t know shit. And, neither do you. Consider that you’ll need to listen enough to justify the opportunity cost of speaking instead of learning and/or taking action.

While I need to learn to speak more, I feel comfortable coaching us all to shut up, listen, and be decisive in action. Let’s go!

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach