Ask HN: How do you succeed in the workplace as an introvert? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you succeed in the workplace as an introvert?

I've been working for a few years, and I have a really hard time being around people all day. I can interact fine over IRC/Skype/etc., but in person interaction drains me.

This is really affecting my productivity and my mood. How do I get over it?

In grad school, there were days were I was alone in the lab, or working from home, which was nice.

But now I'm in the startup world, and work for a small (less than 50 employee) but successful startup.

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Something I learned from a friend with several years experience consulting at McKinsey (i.e., experience with a lot of companies) is that as you go higher up the corporate ladder, you surprisingly tend to find more introverts. So see you a lot of places with, say, extroverted junior managers but an introverted CEO at the top.

So don't hold too dearly to the model that "I'm an introvert therefore I'm at a disadvantage in my career". Leverage your introvert skills by, e.g., analysing a topic in-depth and preparing your thoughts about it before a meeting. You might find the other participants are only debating at a shallow level and that you can steer the conversation towards your deeper insights.

Also, I believe that "introvert vs extrovert" is a false dichotomy. They are both skillsets that you can develop independently. Read this: http://joshuaspodek.com/introversion-opposite-extroversion

Have this conversation with your boss:

You: “I have a hard time being around people all day. I can interact fine over IRC/Skype/etc., but in-person interaction drains me. It affects my productivity.” <I paraphrase>

Boss: “Would it help if you worked remotely, say, one day a week...?”

You: “Yes.”

Boss: “Then do that. And get some headphones for the other days. Never mind, here, take mine.”

If your boss doesn’t follow this script, or one very close to it, then you might want to get a new boss. No, I’m serious. The very best managers don’t care where or when or how you work; they care about your work. (And they also want to know they can reach you when they absolutely need to reach you. For, like, something important.)

I consider myself an introvert, I am working from home right now instead of going into the office (15 minutes away). I am fine in small groups of people (2-5), but when there are more than 10 people in a room I am not very social and do not find it much fun.

I did outside sales for 10 years, which might sound contradictory to this, but in reality you only have to talk to people for about 2 hours a day. The rest of the time is spent in prep work, travel, learning your product (mine was technical). I liked that I could make a good living in 2 hours a day.

You could try starting your own business. My current setup is that I have 10 people on staff, and a very good COO to lead them all. She has joked that if we double our head count, that she could count on me to be at the office 50% of what I am now. Her prediction is that if we ever got to 50 people, then I would never come to the business at all. My contribution to my business is to do a lot of reading and thinking, and planning. I read about 2 hours a day, do another 2 hours of planning out solutions to various issues at work, and spend some time working on the website/e-marketing etc.

I would talk to your supervisor/CEO and ask if there is a way that you can work remotely for half the time or more. As a CEO myself, I am more interested in productivity than face time. Maybe your CEO is too.

What I've done in life as an introvert is learn how to stay inside my own mind even when I'm with people. There are lots of occasions where locationally you're with others but socially you're not required to really interact with them. Learn which ones these are, and you can recharge on the go.

Also, a lot of the time social interaction consists of things like making small talk and greeting other people. It's kind of fun to treat these little gestures as a game, making some kind of system of it and making them the conversational equivalent of muscle memory for yourself. What drains me is having to actively pay attention to the problem of interaction. It's a lot easier once you can do it without thinking.

Hey..your work can help you succeed. A cliche' .. I know. But on serious note, you can share important articles, best practices. This need not be in person. But you could collate or email or use something crazy and simple as www.teamgum.com browser extension. It allows me to share, discuss & collaborate with the team.

Helping someone out in resolving work issue..is the best ice breaker. You can succeed for not just your work but contribution as a saviour in hour of need.

P.S. dont forget to order pizzas for your team to start a great conversation.

I recommend you check out the book Search Inside Yourself, based on the course at Google: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=search+inside+your...

I stick my earphones in and ignore the outside world while I'm getting work done. I also try and work from home when I can.

Try using your lunch breaks to go on a walk rather than sit and chat with your colleagues?

Can you work from home a day or two per week? It works well for me when I'm doing creative work.

You don't.

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