When I was a kid I’ve been labeled as “shy”, “very calm”, “quiet” or introverted. Even though those labels are given in the most innocuous way by family or friends, they have a tendency to stick to you and somehow define who you are, sometimes for a whole lifetime.
The way people define you, has several consequences:
- They are often seen as immutable properties of the self
- They give you a reason to not train (your social skills in this context)
- They will limit your own perspective of yourself, and the image you project to others.
In this talk given at DAHO.AM 2019, I discuss how I managed to overcome some of the limits I thought were inherent to myself.
Today, I still call myself an introvert. Social interactions consume energy from me, and I have to recover afterward. But I’m a very social introvert!
