I don’t know if this is common knowledge in the states but I didn’t know that Budapest was actually a combination of two towns split by the Danube. Pest is the newer town filled with some amazing architecture, parks, malls, shopping and sites including the Parliament and Hero Square. The Buda side is the more historic side of Budapest and contains sites like the Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastille.
As a whole Budapest is pretty incredible. We continued to be surprised as to just how big the town is. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there is another part of town rich with even more monuments and building. Then, once you think you have the hang of the city you realize that at night there is an entirely new dimension to it all that deserve another lap.
You can watch our timelapse tour of Pest in the videos below.
One thing we have learned from traveling is how much different a city can feel when you are able to hang with the locals. If not for Soma and Peter, two friends we happen to meet in San Francisco a few months earlier, we would never have known about this awesome beerfest event in the Buda Castle. We tasted great new beers (like Jackie’s now favorite Red Delirium) and listened to throw back music. What an awesome night!
Vienna was a beautiful city. Clean, rich with history, and both trendy while still retaining its classic history. We were lucky enough to grab an AirBnB with Thomas whom showed us around the city and introduced us to some great restaurants, bars and wines. Time and time again we are shown just how much the people you meet in a city will impact your stay there.
We tried foods, desserts and visited some of the many museums this town has to offer in the videos below. Enjoy!
When we drove through NZ and AU we found it incredibly odd how slow people were driving. I’ve never been on a highway where almost everyone is driving UNDER the speed limit by 10K/hour on wide open roads. Where we’re from, the speed limit is realistically +/- 5Mph the posted number.
There is A TON of space between each city in NZ and AU and to make good time we made a habit of passing the unusual number of “slow pokes.”
About a month or so later I get a ~$30 charge from each car rental company. A week after that a letter from AUS highway patrol sent tickets to my parents house. Each ticket was between $100 and $200. I did some research on tickets in those countries and supposedly there is a huge crackdown on speeding; some roads monitored by drones.
No wonder everyone was overly cautious with their speed. You never know who is watching and when a simple pass of another car could cost you $100 bucks a month later. I’m not hating on them, we were going fast. We paid the ticket. Our bad.
For everyone else out there, fair warning: obey the posted speed limits in Australia and New Zealand to a T!
So – we walk into the oldest brewery in the city for a beer and Goulash. The second we sat down (before a word was uttered) the server puts two dark beers and two shots on the table in front of us and walked away. We decide to go with it.
I really enjoyed reading this book! Not only did it have the insight into how a successful entrepreneur created his empire, but it is a story of how a pioneer gave birth to an entirely new industry. To add to the storyline you’ll get a behind the scenes look into the making of some of the classic pixar movies like “Up”; interactions with the late, great Steve Jobs; a look into a merger with one of the largest culture-driven companies in history, Disney; sprinkled in with nerdy facts like who invented anti-aliasing and where the name Pixar came from. It wasn’t like many business books out there, but, then again, I wouldn’t expect less from a book written by Ed Catmull with the word “creativity” in the title.
One thing I am skeptical about is how his glowing positive outlook on all the events and outcomes that transpired actually trickled down emotionally to the average employee. Having been on both sides of the founder/employee persona I know it is easy to relishes your triumphs while realistically most people don’t care as much as you think. At times the book sounds a bit “let them eat cake” esque. That being said, I don’t think it takes away from the stories and points he makes. After all, he did create a billion dollar company, a trillion dollar industry and many award winning films along the way – so I still think his advice is sound 😉
Based on the above you may think I would say he lacked humility in the book, that’s not quite what I am saying. One thing I enjoyed immensely is how upfront he was about where things went wrong and how he pushed his ideal of creating a candid work environment. I just wonder how everyone else responded to the ideals in the day-to-day.
Throughout the book Ed does a great job giving the reader what they are ultimately looking for: tips. He summarizes many of his stories as concise lessons and at the end of the book he literally creates a list of overarching tips he believes are important. What can I say, the man knows how to tell a story. Definitely a must read.
Some of my Kindle Highlights, with notes, from the book:
Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new (and, as such, should be seen as valuable; without them, we’d have no originality).
This is a common thought, but how he frames it as a “consequence of doing something new” was especially attractive to me.
“Get a bike that’s as low to the ground as you can find, put on elbow and knee pads so you’re not afraid of falling, and go,”
If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.
Is the question being asked: Whose fault was this? If so, your culture is one that vilifies failure. Failure is difficult enough without it being compounded by the search for a scapegoat.
In a fear-based, failure-averse culture, people will consciously or unconsciously avoid risk. They will seek instead to repeat something safe that’s been good enough in the past. Their work will be derivative, not innovative. But if you can foster a positive understanding of failure, the opposite will happen.
A nice way to tweeze out the root causes that lead to a lack of innovation (on this case creativity.) A culture that grows into creating repeats and derivatives to avoid risk. Overtime, it can becomes so hidden within a culture that no one can see it. This concept comes up again when he describes the merger with Disney.
it’s easier to plan derivative work—
overplanners just take longer to be wrong (and, when things inevitably go awry, are more crushed by the feeling that they have failed).
I found a life lesson here. I am a major advocate when it comes to product development to recognize that almost no plans can be too long term since variables constantly change along the way; my playbook is often to iterate with a big picture vision. For some reason, in life outside of work, I tend to overplan a lot. And, get upset when all the work that went into planning goes awry. Until I read this passage I never viewed them side by side. For me it was eye opening.
It was as if we’d picked four talented musicians, left them to their own devices, and hoped like hell they’d figure out how to be the Beatles.
Part of our job is to protect the new from people who don’t understand that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be phases of not-so-greatness
I have found some companies want it all. They want new, greatness, speed, and growth all at once. In that way they use one rule for all situations and inevitably lose the ability to grow and be creative. In their mind they are iterating away from problems – in actuality they are killing the seeds of a truly iterable future.
Making the process better, easier, and cheaper is an important aspiration, something we continually work on—but it is not the goal. Making something great is the goal.
Love that. Definitely a first principles thought that I try to remind myself of all the time. Take a step back, what is the true root problem you are solving. Then regroup.
When efficiency or consistency of workflow are not balanced by other equally strong countervailing forces, the result is that new ideas—our ugly babies—aren’t afforded the attention and protection they need to shine and mature.
Each group, then, is trying to do the right thing, but they’re pulling in different directions. If any one of those groups “wins,” we lose.
Ed makes a great case for making sure you have an environment in which many cultures can exists, but they must have the same ideals and mindset. The importance of conflict in perspective is in how it can spawn new and creative ideas.
In an unhealthy culture, each group believes that if their objectives trump the goals of the other groups, the company will be better off. In a healthy culture, all constituencies recognize the importance of balancing competing desires—they want to be heard, but they don’t have to win.
The key is to view conflict as essential, because that’s how we know the best ideas will be tested and survive.
It is management’s job to figure out how to help others see conflict as healthy—as a route to balance, which benefits us all in the long run. I’m
if history is any guide, some are diligently trying to polish a brick.
It wasn’t just that the interns lightened the workload by taking on projects. Teaching them Pixar’s ways made our people examine how they did things, which led to improvements for all.
The unpredictable is the ground on which creativity occurs.
Which meant that the people working on Up had to be able to roll with that evolution without panicking, shutting down, or growing discouraged. It helped that Pete understood what they were feeling.
“It wasn’t until I finished directing Monsters, Inc. that I realized failure is a healthy part of the process,” he told me. “Throughout the making of that film, I took it personally—I believed my mistakes were personal shortcomings, and if I were only a better director I wouldn’t make them.” To this day, he says, “I tend to flood and freeze up if I’m feeling overwhelmed. When this happens, it’s usually because I feel like the world is crashing down and all is lost. One trick I’ve learned is to force myself to make a list of what’s actually wrong.
It also helped that Pete never lost sight of his mission on Up, which was to drill down to the emotional core of his characters and then build the story around that.
“I feel like the only reason we’re able to find some of these unique ideas, characters, and story twists is through discovery. And, by definition, ‘discovery’ means you don’t know the answer when you start.
For many people, changing course is also a sign of weakness, tantamount to admitting that you don’t know what you are doing. This strikes me as particularly bizarre—personally, I think the person who can’t change his or her mind is dangerous. Steve Jobs was known for changing his mind instantly in the light of new facts, and I don’t know anyone who thought he was weak.
This was an interesting bit of insight. I have personally seen people change their mind at work and to many (often including myself) it called in to question our ability to trust their judgement. With this section I took a different tune. If you can’t change your mind you can’t make those important mistakes and learnings. With those I was particularly close to we changed one another’s minds all the time – and I actually enjoyed the feelings and perspectives it gave me. So, how do you create a trusting culture where anyone can make claims and change their mind without consequence? Something to think about.
“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” For many, these are words to live by.
To be clear, I am not endorsing change for change’s sake. There are often good reasons to hang on to things that work. The wrong kind of change can endanger our projects, which is why those who oppose it are in earnest when they say that they just want to protect the companies in which they work.
When companies are successful, it is natural to assume that this is a result of leaders making shrewd decisions. Those leaders go forward believing that they have figured out the key to building a thriving company. In fact, randomness and luck played a key role in that success.
After the loss of the film, our list of priorities, in order, were: (1) Restore the film; (2) Fix our …. Notably, one item was not on our list: Find the person responsible who typed the wrong command and punish him or her. Some people may question that decision, reasoning that as valuable as creating a trusting environment can be, responsibility without accountability can undermine an expectation of excellence. I’m all for accountability. But in this case, my reasoning went like this: Our people have good intentions. To think you can control or prevent random problems by making an example of someone is naïve and wrongheaded. Moreover, if you say it is important to let the people you work with solve their own problems, then you must behave like you mean it. Drill down, certainly, to make sure everyone understands how important it is that we strive to avoid such problems in the future. But always—always—walk your talk.
If you don’t try to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.
. If we start with the attitude that different viewpoints are additive rather than competitive, we become more effective because our ideas or decisions are honed and tempered by that discourse
Mark Twain once said, “lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” The cat’s hindsight, in other words, distorts her view. The past should be our teacher, not our master.
I especially like the summary, “The past should be our teacher, not our master.” It eloquently puts the conflict between when we change from our past and when we don’t. There isn’t one answer, and that summary says it all.
An adage worth repeating is also halfway to being irrelevant.
Ed often dives into how much he is afraid of creating “rules of thumb.” He is afraid that with every repetition the meaning and reasoning is slightly lost and eventually it gets misused or becomes a crutch. He touches on a huge philosophical perspective here that I find relates to life as a whole. The fear of dogma. This reminds me of my a but of my favorite philosopher Nietzsche that speak of the same avoidances.
Do not fall for the illusion that by preventing errors, you won’t have errors to fix. The truth is, the cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
Similarly, it is not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It is the manager’s job to make it safe to take them.
Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that someone won’t screw up—it means you trust them even when they do screw up.
I like the way he frames it. In essence you trust that they likely screwed up for understandable reasons. Or, in other words, they would not have screwed up had it not be for a good reason.
In an effort to practice what I preach I counted down from ten to my initial reaction to this video from the Arizona Mosque Protest. I then re-constructed my reaction into this:
I’m glad we give freedom of speech to all. I’m sad they chose to use it the way they have. Im glad people showed up to use their free speech to show their love for their fellow citizens in the face of hate. I’m glad we have good Police like those to allow both sides to express themselves without escalation. I’m glad people did not resort to assuming everyone there is a thug. I don’t believe these people represent all whites or that whites need to explain themselves because of these people. I will try to be consistent in these views no matter the situation. I understand these protesters are scared and have had no help to cope with their fear as a community. That fear/ignorance is all of our faults and we should reach out to them to close the gap between their fears and their fellow humans.
Since starting this trip about 2 months ago we’ve taken an average of about 50 photos/videos a day, between our two iPhones and our Coolpix Camera. A month into the trip my external hard drive was filling up fast and I began to worry about how I could keep our growing collection of photos safe without spending a ton of money.
When Amazon offered its unlimited storage CloudDrive product for $55/year (with a 3 month free trial) I jumped at the chance to get in. I’ve uploaded about 70 gigs of photos and video since then and have dealt with some annoying features along the way. I just brushed the annoyances off because I figured A) Amazon would keep iterating on the product to improve it over time and B) there wasn’t any deal out there as good as theirs.
Then a few days ago Google released their unlimited Photo storage product too. Damn. At first I felt as though having options made things worst. Now I had to decide which product to go with, and, if I did change products, I had to download 70+ gigs of data from Amazon over these shitty hotel networks and reupload them to Google.
I started uploading our new pics to Google this week to give it a whirl and the differences have been fairly major. Google seem to me to be the clear winner for me so far, here’s why.
Amazon Cloud Drive (ACD)
Problems I have with ACD
You can only share a couple photos/videos at a time
The web interface fails if there is a disconnection or network problem.
The desktop interface was not better than the web – so why have it?
The download of the thumbnails on the media viewer were slow and many photos didn’t ever make it down.
Sometimes the video didn’t play or trying to enlarging photos for preview wouldn’t work.
Search rarely worked.
The good parts of ACD
I liked the folder system to organize things manually
You can store ANYTHING with unlimited storage. Files or Photos.
There are no limits on the size of your media you upload
They were first?
Google Photos
Problems With Google Photos
Can only store photos and video
There is a limit on the size of the photos and video you upload.
At first that concerned me but none of my media hits those limits so it is moot.
No file system.
Though, now that I have used it for a week I don’t think I really needed one.
Not really sure what the “Assistant” can do for me.
It does a few cool things but not all that valuable. Like it created an animated gif of random files in case I wanted them….Maybe I will dig it down the road…
What I love about Google Photos
It organizes my photos/videos into locations
I can share entire collections or individual photos. I can easily manage those shared photos easily through a management console.
The image viewer loads super quickly. Same network, no missing images thumbnails
Search works great and you can use it to find more than just file names.
It recognizes THINGS! Like “ruins” and “beaches.”
I don’t know how I will use that, maybe when writing blogs and I want to find something quickly. More importantly, who cares how I use it – it is freaking cool!
Smoother flowing design. Not fancy, just clean.
The web uploader is way nicer than ACD.
It shows you thumbnails of your photo and video being uploaded. You can pause it. And when you lose connection it just holds its current upload position until it gets a connection again (even when the computer sleeps.) I have not got an error yet – and with ACD it was always an issue.
I can organize my albums visually.
With ACD I had folders (w/ a listview of the files) or a photo view with ALL of my media by date. With Google my collections are as easy to skim through.
Overall the UX of ACD was clunky and the service was more expensive. So, I guess I don’t have that hard of a decision to make after all.
One thing I wish they both did is allow me to use my cloud stores images as IMG’s in my website. It would be great not to have to upload them twice for display. It seems like they provide only a temporary link for the photo itself.
I quite liked driving through New Zealand and Australia. Like most countries outside the U.S., they use roundabouts to deal with intersection traffic.
The rules of a roundabout are quite simple: you must yield to oncoming cars to your right – otherwise – go. Most of the time there are no cars coming and you can avoid the “come to a complete stop” law all together.
I find the iterative development cycle works in much the same way. In older more classic models, a product manager and their stakeholders work diligently to make sure specs are completed thoroughly before marking them as “ready for development.” In reality, the a majority of what *can* be done dramatically changes as new information is made available (digging into the problem, user feedback, stakeholder feedback, complexity etc.) The “stop” heavy culture of elaborately planned tasks are often thrown away the seconds after development, and issues, start. The real knowledge comes from implementation and iteration once each atomic feature is released. It also requires trust in those that implement to have a good enough understanding of the high level purpose of what your product is trying to achieve.
What if something goes wrong? Well, just like with a round about, development yields when there is” oncoming traffic” (AKA an issue getting flagged.) In scrum, the flag can be raised at standup meetings or planning meetings. If there is no flag then the developer does the best they can to implement the best way they can. In essence, they are entering the intersection and driving on through. This lack of congestion on spec creation can be better spent on feedback, iterations, and issues that come up. (In reality it is where the most critical time has always been.)
So, next time you’re concerned about how a task *should* be completed, and feel the need to surround yourself with stop signs, imagine the steady flow of a roundabout. Give your team the freedom to produce, stay available for issues that *may* come up, and when a change needs to be made revisit the task at hand.
As a whole I found this book enlightening and well deserving of my “Must Reads” list. For some it will provide insight into a community of like minded people. For others it will provide a fresh perspective on those they live with and work with. In addition to interesting stories and statistics on introverted and extroverted personality types, Susan offers ways she believes they may best interact, be it a parent/child relationship or between coworkers or spouses.
Some of the more interesting stories are of the author’s first hand experiences, as an introvert herself, where you follow how she deals with the extroverted world around her. She recounts stories of how she pushed herself to her boundaries by attending situations outside her comfort zone and paints a vivid picture of the emotions and thoughts that went through her mind while living them.
As a closet introvert myself, the stories bring a sort of comfort in knowing others have the same feeling and battles as I do, and, as a special bonus, they are told within a structure I can learn from. It is nice to know all those seemingly unrelated thoughts and emotions I’ve had can actually all be related to a more explicitly defined state of mind.
Those who know me well have been a part of many of my post (or pre) interaction stress, warm up time and exhaustion, and those who are shocked to hear it gives me a sense of pride that I have come so far. One event that is probably the most publicly noted, is the story of how I met Jackie (which she loves to tell) and goes, “I noticed Sean reading a book in the middle of a keg filled pool party when I wanted to walk over and say hi to him.” While writing this blog I found a Ted Talk of Susan Cain speaking of her book (below.) I couldn’t help but laugh a bit when she opened with a story explaining all the same feelings I had leading up to that moment.
Does it put me completely at ease that there is now a definition and even a positive perspective on these emotions? Not quite. I have worked quite hard, like the Author, to constantly challenge myself to go against these anxieties and practice being a better extrovert. As such, there are stories I no longer relate to as much. Now, for example, when I need to give a presentation I write a script, rehearse it, and turn anxiety into a sort of adrenaline rush; like going skydiving. Though, afterwards, I still spend hours analyzing how badly I did and need a serious nap.
But have I beat it? Is it even something that I should consider needing to be beat? Have I changed or grown or just adapted slightly? On one hand, I don’t think I could have done all things I’ve done if I stayed in my introverted mindset. I mean, how can I fully embrace my introverted tendencies in a world where the writer of a pro-introversion book has to get on Ted Talk in front of thousands of people to get the word out?
I think the overarching lesson may be that it is okay to adapt, but it is even more important to know how to manage your emotions and energy and not ignore them so you can find time to decompress and process your day without guilt. I think I can find a bit of closure on that.
Introverts are drawn to the inner world of thought and feeling, said Jung, extroverts to the external life of people and activities. Introverts focus on the meaning they make of the events swirling around them; extroverts plunge into the events themselves. Introverts recharge their batteries by being alone; extroverts need to recharge when they don’t socialize enough.
Many introverts are also “highly sensitive,” which sounds poetic, but is actually a technical term in psychology. If you are a sensitive sort, then you’re more apt than the average person to feel pleasantly overwhelmed by Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” or a well-turned phrase or an act of extraordinary kindness. You may be quicker than others to feel sickened by violence and ugliness, and you likely have a very strong conscience. When you were a child you were probably called “shy,” and to this day feel nervous when you’re being evaluated, for example when giving a speech or on a first date.
we know that 70 percent of sensitives are introverts, and the other 30 percent tend to report needing a lot of “down time.”)
Americans found themselves working no longer with neighbors but with strangers. “Citizens” morphed into “employees,” facing the question of how to make a good impression on people to whom they had no civic or family ties.
In the increasingly anonymous business and social relationships of the age, one might suspect that anything—including a first impression—had made the crucial difference.”
One of the most interesting findings, echoed by later studies, was that the more creative people tended to be socially poised introverts. They were interpersonally skilled but “not of an especially sociable or participative temperament.” They described themselves as independent and individualistic. As teens, many had been shy and solitary.
introverts prefer to work independently, and solitude can be a catalyst to innovation.
Deliberate Practice is best conducted alone for several reasons. It takes intense concentration, and other people can be distracting. It requires deep motivation, often self-generated. But most important, it involves working on the task that’s most challenging to you personally. Only when you’re alone, Ericsson told me, can you “go directly to the part that’s challenging to you. If you want to improve what you’re doing, you have to be the one who generates the move.
Here I thought I just loved to work at night when everyone was asleep. And, my desires of working on an isolated farm no longer seem as random as I once thought.
Open-plan offices have been found to reduce productivity and impair memory. They’re associated with high staff turnover. They make people sick, hostile, unmotivated, and insecure.
He also suggests “No-Talk Thursdays,” one day a week in which employees aren’t allowed to speak to each other.
Indeed, after all these years of evidence that conventional brainstorming groups don’t work, they remain as popular as ever. Participants in brainstorming sessions usually believe that their group performed much better than it actually did, which points to a valuable reason for their continued popularity—group brainstorming makes people feel attached. A worthy goal, so long as we understand that social glue, as opposed to creativity, is the principal benefit.
This is a very controversial topic she drops into. It is so counterintuitive to what we learn these days in the workplace it challenges so much of the ideation sessions we have become accustomed to. Not sure if it changes my mind just yet, but it does answer a lot of questions I’ve had internally about working alone or in groups.
Psychologists usually offer three explanations for the failure of group brainstorming. The first is social loafing: in a group, some individuals tend to sit back and let others do the work. The second is production blocking: only one person can talk or produce an idea at once, while the other group members are forced to sit passively. And the third is evaluation apprehension, meaning the fear of looking stupid in front of one’s peers.
the question of how your inborn temperament interacts with the environment and with your own free will. To what degree is temperament destiny?
Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act.
realize it’s not true that I’m no longer shy; I’ve just learned to talk myself down from the ledge (thank you, prefrontal cortex!). By now I do it so automatically that I’m hardly aware it’s happening.
Imagine how much better you’ll be at this sweet-spot game once you’re aware of playing it.
sweet spots have the power to leave jobs that exhaust them and start new and satisfying businesses.
I also speak on topics that matter to me deeply, and have found that I feel much more centered when I truly care about my subject.
This touched me as well. I have always said I would be an awful salesman since after the initial feeling of an idea or concept is revealed it no longer is as interesting to me and that loss of interest can hurt a sale. My former co-founder, who is an awesome salesman, can give the same pitch with the same intensity multiple times a day. I’ve always admired that, but this puts it into more perspective. I just simply enjoy depth and so I should follow that preference in what I do.
Sometimes speakers need to talk about subjects that don’t interest them much, especially at work. I believe this is harder for introverts, who have trouble projecting artificial enthusiasm.
The highly sensitive tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather than materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive (just as Aron’s husband had described her).
They feel exceptionally strong emotions—sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy, and fear.
Amazing. It is like she gets inside my thoughts. Things I don’t talk about openly and have always had since I was kid. My love of philosophy, my aversion to getting drunk and a like, and myself regulation of my emotions on big events. While others rave about an event they always ask why I am not more excited – and I never could answer it. I’ve always disliked that question…
sensitive people also process information about their environments—both physical and emotional—unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss—another person’s shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a touch too brightly.
It may also help explain why they’re so bored by small talk. “If you’re thinking in more complicated ways,” she told me, “then talking about the weather or where you went for the holidays is not quite as interesting as talking about values or morality.”
scientists have discovered that approximately 20 percent of the members of many species are “slow to warm up,”
Remind me of how my cousin Reza would mention my slowness to warm up, and as we got older he would play into it and almost study it when we would hangout with new groups.
In most settings, people use small talk as a way of relaxing into a new relationship, and only once they’re comfortable do they connect more seriously. Sensitive people seem to do the reverse. They “enjoy small talk only after they’ve gone deep,” says Strickland.
“When sensitive people are in environments that nurture their authenticity, they laugh and chitchat just as much as anyone else.”
In short, introverts just don’t buzz as easily.
extroverts are more likely than introverts to be killed while driving, be hospitalized as a result of accident or injury, smoke, have risky sex, participate in high-risk sports, have affairs, and remarry.
In one study, scientists gave participants the choice of a small reward immediately (a gift certificate from Amazon) or a bigger gift certificate in two to four weeks. Objectively, the bigger reward in the near but not immediate future was the more desirable option. But many people went for the “I want it now” choice—and when they did, a brain scanner revealed that their reward network was activated. Those who held out for the larger reward two weeks hence showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex—the part of the new brain that talks us out of sending ill-considered e-mails and eating too much chocolate cake.
Introverts seem to be specifically wired or trained so when they catch themselves getting excited and focused on a goal, their vigilance increases.”
According to IQ scores, the two types are equally intelligent.
Extroverts are better than introverts at handling information overload.
Introverts’ reflectiveness uses up a lot of cognitive capacity, according to Joseph Newman.
This is because most tasks are goal-directed. Extroverts appear to allocate most of their cognitive capacity to the goal at hand, while introverts use up capacity by monitoring how the task is going.
If you are threat-oriented: 1. Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit. 2. I feel pretty worried or upset when I think or know somebody is angry at me. 3. If I think something unpleasant is going to happen, I usually get pretty “worked up.” 4. I feel worried when I think I have done poorly at something important. 5. I worry about making mistakes.
But when you’re focused on a project that you care about, you probably find that your energy is boundless.
If you’re the kind of person who frets every time the quarter is good, you may have trouble rising to the top of a corporate pyramid.
Johnson, who is a frequent public speaker on education despite a lifelong public speaking phobia, knows firsthand how well this works. “I haven’t overcome my shyness,” she says. “It is sitting in the corner, calling to me. But I am passionate about changing our schools, so my passion overcomes my shyness once I get started on a speech. If you find something that arouses your passion or provides a welcome challenge, you forget yourself for a while. It’s like an emotional vacation.”
I have to work far less when presenting on a topic I care about. Instead of fighting it I think the lesson it to find things you enjoy being “extroverted” about.
Figure out what you are meant to contribute to the world and make sure you contribute it. If this requires public speaking or networking or other activities that make you uncomfortable, do them anyway. But accept that they’re difficult, get the training you need to make them easier, and reward yourself when you’re done.
Here’s a rule of thumb for networking events: one new honest-to-goodness relationship is worth ten fistfuls of business cards. Rush home afterward and kick back on your sofa. Carve out restorative niches.
If you’re a manager, remember that one third to one half of your workforce is probably introverted, whether they appear that way or not. Think twice about how you design your organization’s office space. Don’t
If it’s creativity you’re after, ask your employees to solve problems alone before sharing their ideas. If you want the wisdom of the crowd, gather it electronically, or in writing, and make sure people can’t see each other’s ideas until everyone’s had a chance to contribute.
Sean Shadmand 