How I used my Introverted Nature to Become a Super-Producer
Several months ago I got the inkling — the soul knowing — that I wanted to write more. I could feel inside me my innate ability to write. I have been writing long Instagram captions for two or three years. And when I put together the book, Home Is Oceans Here, I realized that each of these Instagram captions was worth one page of a book. On top of that, I often hit the character limit in Instagram captions and I still wanted to write more.
Most of all, I wanted to write more because I could feel there was stuff in my heart and mind and soul that I wanted to process and share with the world. Writing is the most effective way to get my thoughts into shape, so that they’re not floating around aimlessly in my mind.
I knew I have the ability to write more. And write better. I knew I had barely touched the limit of my writing capacity, and I wanted to know how good I could get.
Once I realized that I could use my introverted nature to my advantage, I dove in! Here’s what it looks like:
Introvert Benefit #1: You have an uncommon clarity about your life purpose.
My Step: Trust the impulse. Use it.
I set about figuring out how I could have the time. Without time on my laptop on my keyboard, no writing would flow out. I started to listening to personal developement Youtubers and reading books, and quickly learned about how the world’s most successful people all wake up early. Like 5:00am.
“Hmmm, I’m a morning person! I should use this to my advantage!” All through 2018, I’d woken up around 7:00pm and within 30-45 minutes was other the door to drive to work. Why couldn’t I wake up earlier?
Then I heard this idea from Robin Sharma, “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” I got it. I knew that if I could just get through the first 3 weeks, which would be the most difficult, then I could install this habit of waking up early and I’d be set!
I made a decision at the start of 2019 that I wanted to figure out how I could write and create content more. By late January, I was already testing out waking up at 5 a.m.
It was working. It’s still working, which is why this blog post exists!
Introvert Quality #2: You compete with yourself. You can become a master of your time.
My Step #2: Keep my standards high. I aim for personal excellence.
I love inspiration, but I understand that I will have my own formula.
Once I saw at 5 a.m. did indeed work in my life, I said about raising my standards. I wanted to figure out how I could do it even better. At the start I was following other people's formulas and suggestions for what to do in the morning. In particular, Robin Sharma teaches a 20/20/20 formula for the 5AM mornings. This involves 20 minutes of moving and sweating, 20 minutes of reflecting and 20 minutes growing, such as reading. It worked for me to some degree but it had side effects that didn't work.
For the past few months, I've been tweaking my morning routine to hone in on what works for me and solidify it. That is how I am writing this at 5:42 a.m. right now.
I've read numerous books on productivity, habits, time management and have become a huge fan of developing life habits that help us make our highest contribution in life. I don't believe in living life on autopilot. I am always looking to grow and my life in the city has given me a new set of lessons, which I am really enjoying mastering. Every time I reach a new level of understanding about what works and what doesn't work in my life, I make notes—literally no in my phone computer or notebook—and I figure out how to tweak it or change it for the future.
This isn't about beating anyone else or about being more successful, or proving to an imaginary person that I am better at time management than they are. I just want to live my most meaningful and impactful (and adventurous) life. If I wasn't doing this, I might be in a psychiatric ward or rehab. So clearly this is a better option for my personality. I am aware that we get to choose what kind of life we will create. The universe is a for us. God is for us and helping us. We have to keep your standards High, and keep pursuing excellence.
Introvert Quality #3: You can persevere with problems longer.
My Step #3: I choose grit and perseverance.
I knew that as an introvert, I can stick with a problem that I really want to solve. I can sit and write for 8 hours and be genuinely happy. In fact if I had 8 hours to write I would feel like a million bucks. This comes naturally to me. I got to experience it while I was writing Home is Oceans Here, and I knew that this was a God-given quality. I could keep pushing and pushing, deeper into my mind in order to draw out these words, sentences and ideas. I definitely don't think this makes me more qualified at writing than anyone or any extrovert. It's just how I'm wired.
Figure out what you're good at and become aware enough to actually choose to be good at it. There are some things I have zero interest in getting good at. I currently do not know how to code and something in my soul tells me it's not going to help me fulfill my life purpose if I learn how to code and make six figures as an software engineer of some kind.
I have chosen to dig my heels into my current assignment, which is to learn how to thrive in the city. This requires grit for me. It means I don't get to sit around complaining. It means I have to figure out how to find joy, contentment and purpose here. And I have.
Perseverance means that I will take this assignment all the way through to the end. Through my many conversations with God about why I am doing my master's degree, I realized that one of its benefits is that it forces me into longer container of time. Without it I might be planning my Escape From the City in the nexttwo2 years. Now I'm prepared to stay here for a minimum of 3.75 years. Sure I could quit, but I can sense that there is more for me on the other side of this program then if I quit and go travel.
Introvert Quality #4: You know what gives you energy and what sucks it.
My Step #4: Grow in Self Awareness
I love growing in self-awareness. It's practically a hobby and it's why I like reading personal development books. Over time I've seen how this self-awareness has made me more centred, grounded, confident and purposeful.
With my current life project of figuring out how to thrive in the city, I’ve taken my natural inclination for self-awareness to a whole new level.
I applied self-awareness to my time.
I am now very aware of where my time goes, what gives me energy and what sucks energy from me. This is an ongoing process which I believe will continue for my whole life. I approach it with a sense of curiosity. It's fascinating to realize that if I have a big project or event, I cannot show up at a large social gathering within a few days. All I want to do is stay home and recuperate. If I see friends when my tank is empty, a very ungraceful version of Anita shows up and nobody wants to talk to her—not even me.
Personal realizations like this came from actually hitting overload in my life. With my master's program, too, I have a whole new set of variables in my life that I have to deal with. When I first started my program, I was a bit annoyed that God was making me do all of this extra work. But that kind of attitude do not serve me so I set about finding new ways to view the situation. One of these new perspectives is to see the advantage that this program: it’s teaching me how to manage my time even better. It’s a practice in higher self-aware.
I thought I would have to slow down AWL content creation when this program started. However, I really really did not want to because making content gives me an overflow of life and happiness.
What has happened so far? I aced my first Greek exam, for my first course and I've started writing entire blogs at 5 a.m. in the morning. I have already published more blogs in the month of October (2019) then any other month in my entire blogging career, (since 2014!).
I expect this program to give me more hurdles, but through my introvert qualities I know I will navigate all of this wisdom, clarity, a light heart and a sense of joy in the process!
That is what I want for you. I know that no matter what you're going through in life, you can thrive. Your life situation might look extremely different from mine. You might have kids and a mortgage. Or you might have cancer and a broken family.
When we dig deep and look into the qualities that are literally embedded into are being, we will discover that we are equipped for the circumstance in front of us.
And not just equipped to survive, but I believe, equipped to thrive. Especially if you are an introvert, you've got some extra “soul padding” for hardships because you have access to a sanctuary within yourself anytime you slow down and be still. :)
For more on this topic, check out the other articles about Thriving As An Introvert:
