mind on wheels.

10-point manifesto for introverts from Susan Cain's paperback of Quiet with an introvert's musings:

1. There’s a word for “people who are in their heads too much”: thinkers. - totally agree! and i'm glad it's a first point, because i'm definitely a thinker, wrapping my head around 10,001 things. in mom's words, i'm too analytical. yet, it's funny how i think so much and yet so gullible.

2. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation. - absolutely! i love it when i'm alone, when all the 10,001 things race through my mind, as i craft out words and abstract thoughts and posts like these.

3. The next generation of quiet kids can and should be raised to know their own strength. - yepp. quiet kids are not lousy things to be thrown in the backseat. there is value in silence.

4. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend-extrovert. There’s always time to be quiet later. - true, once again. i admit, i'm a pretend-extrovert at times. and then i need the pin-drop silence after, just to recharge for that extrovert madness. how these extroverts do it every moment of the day, i really wonder.

5. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is the key to finding work you love and work that matters. - because i love the solitude and busying my brain. i love the admin and planning and any-other-complicated-boring-thing that the ordinary individual shuns.

6. Rule of thumb for networking events: one genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards. - well, i can't say for sure because networking events are when i'm a pretend extrovert.

7. It’s OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk. - it's OK to look down at your phone and pretend to be engrossed to avoid making small talk.

8. “Quiet leadership” is not an oxymoron. - i live by this. or rather, i hope to live by it.

9. Love is essential, gregariousness is optional. - true that! you don't need to be gregarious to show your friends how much you love them.

10. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Gandhi gandhi said it and gandhi did it. you don't need a war to shake the world, you need compassion.