I’ve decided to read a variety of books on introverts which I feel would be useful to my clients and sharing my thoughts on them in upcoming articles. As you probably know, I specialise in working with introverts, who often fall into the category of Highly Sensitive People.
The first book I read was The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth L. Buelow. It’s a good one for those introverts who want to be successful at running their own businesses but aren’t sure how to do that if their personalities don’t lend themselves naturally towards traditional methods of sales and marketing.
Luckily, Buelow tells us that we don’t have to be “loud and brash” to be successful in business, and focuses on how the strengths and traits of introverts can actually be an asset to entrepreneurship. She makes a good case too, by pointing out that there are a number of highly successful introverts who are household names: Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and Julia Roberts to name a few.
What do all of these people have in common?
They have channeled their introvert strengths into superpowers that enable them to succeed in a noisy world. How do they do that? By recognizing those strengths in the first place. P.13
She goes on to explain that introverts are focused on gaining energy and insight from the reality of the internal self (as opposed to external realities). In other words, we are loners by nature and highly introspective and do our best work by focusing internally rather than externally. She identifies four introvert “self” strengths that contribute to our success:
- Self-effacing
- Self-reliant
- Self-possessed
- Self-reflective
I will share with you some of the author’s thoughts on each of them taken from the chapter in her book entitled, “Introversion 101” (pp 14-17) and if you find them intriguing and useful, I suggest you go out and buy yourself a copy of the book to gain even more tips and tools for becoming a successful introvert entrepreneur.
Self-Effacing
Introverts don’t tend to be divas. Many times, we don’t even like to be in the spotlight. But that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily shy or that we dislike being in leadership positions.
Self-Reliant
Because introverts look internally for our energy sources, we are often our own best friend. We don’t depend on material or external stimulation to make up our mind about certain things or to recharge our batteries. It’s not that we aren’t influenced by our environment or the people around us; we simply take in the information and put it through our own filters rather than taking it at face value. We carry our safety, our values, and our energy around inside of us, which contributes to an unmistakable quality of independence and self-reliance.
Self-Possessed
Introverts process information internally rather than thinking out loud. By leaving space for this and allowing our thoughts to possess us for a time, introverts can remain calm in the midst of chaos and respond thoughtfully to even the most stressful situations.
Self-Reflective
Our first instinct when asked “What do you think?” is to figure out our response by being alone rather than by talking it out with others. Also, we like to “look before we leap” in new situations rather than just diving straight in. We watch. We wait. We act when the time feels right.
