The Traveling Introvert

Have you found yourself in a difficult situation lately? Have you dealt with a difficult client or customer? How do you deal with your customers after a rough start to your day? 

In today's episode I discuss:

• The 7 steps to handling any difficult conversations or situation. 

• Remaining calm
• Listening 
• Wait until the other person is calm 
• Apologizing 
• Find common ground 
• Move towards an endpoint
• Next Steps  

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive. 

In today's virtual world it’s all about virtual meetings. In these meetings, there's the age-old question “Where are you from”? This can be a difficult question to answer. 

In today's episode I discuss:

• Why you don’t want to ask, people “where are you from?” 
• How to be more inclusive in the way you ask questions. 
• How to better frame your questions for today's internationally connected world. 
• Staying conscious about appropriately networking questions. 

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive.

Do you have people in your life you find “difficult”? Do you find yourself getting frustrated with the difficult people in your life? Are these negative situations affecting your personal or professional life?

In this episode I discuss:

• How to identify patterns in the situations that frustrate you.
• Identifying your feelings with each difficult situation.
• What to do with your newly gained insight about your frustrations.

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive.

Are you someone who is always pushing tasks off until the last minute? Do you find yourself constantly procrastinating tasks in your personal and professional life? 

In this episode I share:

• How procrastination can hinder your success.  
• How procrastination can negatively affect your health. 
• Why procrastination is the key to destroying your confidence. 
• How procrastination affects your reputation, trust, and credibility with others. 
• Why procrastination is making you lose out on opportunities. 

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive.

Do you feel like you have to tell all your friends and family about what you do? Have you heard people say that you should tell everyone about your business ventures because you never know who they know? Are you someone who’s reluctant to share much of your personal life on the internet?

In this episode, I share:

• Avoiding the pressure of being everywhere online.
• Why it’s okay to not share everything about your work or career with everyone in your life. 
• How building a community around your work, while keeping private is possible. 
• When sharing more about your business is appropriate.

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive.

Are you someone who is happy with their job, and have no intentions of leaving? What are the benefits of interviewing, even if you’re not looking for a new job?

In this episode, I share: 

• Why you should interview for jobs even when you aren't looking to move. 
• Why keeping up to date with the most current interviewing information and interview styles is important. 
• How interviewing can be a great way to learn more about an organization 
• How practicing interview skills can be a benefit you later. 
• Why making connections with recruiters matters. 
• How you could end up finding something you didn’t know you were looking for.  

The Traveling Introvert - About the show

The Career Introvert - Coaching, courses, and more, to help you shine.

Check out membership levels at The Career Introvert, a place for introverts to thrive.

We have forgotten how to truly dream. The world is full of opportunities, and everything can be reshaped. Sometimes dreamers are seen as abstract creators with a train of thought that's hard to follow. Having a dreamer mind seat doesn't mean you are void of reality. A lot of dreamers are very practical. Here are some benefits to being a dreamer.

Dreamers take nothing as certain or definite. They let their imagination breathe, keeping in mind that your current situation is just a temporary state of thing and that everything has the potential to change. Whatever negative things are happening in your life are not permanent. This can give you a more positive outlook on life. Additionally, positive things in your life are a chance to smile. It's a common trait of a dreamer mindset to appreciate all aspects of life. This doesn't mean you are immune to the bad things happening. The difference is the way you deal with them when these situations arise. 

Dreamers tend to be more positive in their thinking and more active in the present. 

When it comes to the future, dreamers know the world is full of opportunities. Whatever your present situation, it can always shift. Your highest fulfilling dreams could become a reality. 

A dreamer's mindset knows that they are the architect and master of their own life. Dreamers are free to make their own choices. 

Creativity is nurtured and taken care of with a dreamer mindset. A dreamer mindset lets you explore the big world and all its opportunities. It is the perfect breeding ground for ideas. This is why the best writers, musicians, and scientists are dreamers. With this creativity, implementation and action need to go hand in hand. Without action, there can be no progress. Dreams don’t come true without putting the work in. 

Be ready to go for what you believe in and to put the work in. A dreamer can be anyone that allows themself to think outside the box concerning themselves and the outside world. Without considering societal norms, you can allow yourself to try things you haven't tried before and dream. 

Why would you want to go on a solo journey? Most of us enjoy travel, and that comes in many forms, from a weekend trip or a year-long trip. Most times, we tend to travel with others. But there are reasons to consider traveling alone. 

Silence and solitude: our lives are filled with noise and stimuli from the start of our day. Rarely do we get silence and solitude. These are the best times to slow down and reflect. Experiencing retreats alone by yourself in nature can have great benefits on your mental well-being.

Learning to deal with loneliness: voluntary periods of loneliness can calm your mind and entangle all that's going on in your head. Disconnecting from your normal routine and going into nature helps you gain calmness and concentration and puts you face to face with your strengths and weaknesses to work through. 

Detaching from technology: we spend so most of our time online. We have the tendency to get lost and scroll on our phones for hours. Companies design their content this way to keep us on our phones for longer. Traveling in nature takes us off our phones and reminds us that we don't need to be our phones. It's okay to be bored.

Start small, don't overextend yourself with a month-long mountain climb. Start with a small nature walk in your local park. Happiness can lie in removing yourself, and there is magic in nature. Give nature a try, go on a mini solo adventure. 

How to be more assertive

Being assertive doesn't have much to do with being an introvert.  Assertive communication helps you get your message across in a clear, respectful, and direct manner regardless of being an introvert or an extrovert. Assertive communication is a valuable skill to have. It helps you lead with confidence and enables groups to work more effectively as a team. Additionally, assertive communication reduces stress, anger, and depression. Good communication skills provide mental clarity and better relationship with others. Assertive communication can be important in all aspects of life, not just work. Here are some tips to help you feel more assertive. 

Understand your value: what benefits do you provide to your organization, and why do they matter? Create a detailed list and be ready to offer it up if requested. Highlight your strengths and weaknesses, be realistic, and avoid internal criticism. If you want to be taken more seriously, you need to know your value. 

Expect discomfort: to set proper boundaries you won't always be comfortable in the process. Don't give in, some might use your discomfort to take advantage of the situation. You don't have to step back because of someone's negative reaction. That could very well have more to do with them than the boundary being set. 

When you know that being assertive is tied to your self-worth and self-esteem, you can then start to move forward and think about your needs and boundaries and if they line up with your values. 

There is also a fine line between being assertive and being aggressive. Being assertive is about being respectful to those around you while still valuing your thoughts and opinions and finding harmony between the two while standing your ground. It's not about taking full control, micromanaging, and disrespecting those around you. Stating you disagree with an idea and explaining why you got there is a much more effective way of communicating than calling someone's idea stupid, crazy, or dumb.

Personal growth will also lead you to be more assertive. The more you learn, grow, and practice, the more understanding of your character you will gain, allowing you to draw attention to your value. This will give you more confidence to speak when appropriate, appropriately. 

Remember to give yourself time to adjust and be patient as you learn to be more assertive and set boundaries.