Many introverts are highly sensitive, often responding strongly to their environment.

-

The vast majority of introverts have yet another personality trait in common: they are highly sensitive. Extroverts, on the other hand, rarely exhibit this characteristic.
People who are highly sensitive process information from their environment in an unusually thorough way. For instance, if they are told to search for images in picture puzzles, they will take more time observing and get more involved with the photos than those who are not highly sensitive.

As a result of this complex way of perceiving, highly sensitive people find profound conversations about values and morals far more stimulating than the superficial anecdotes of a colleague’s recent vacation. While extroverts engage in small talk, introverts discuss climate change.

Highly sensitive people’s intense processing of information is also noticeable in their sympathetic nature. Tragedies and cruelties have more of an emotional impact on them. Their skin seems to be thinner, giving them less protection from the deluge of day-to-day impressions and perceptions.

Consequently, introverts have a strict moral conscience: they are aware of how their behavior affects others and tend to take their own mistakes to heart. To these highly sensitive individuals, it means a lot to be seen positively by others, which makes it unusually difficult for them to meet new people or be interviewed.

It is thus safe to conclude that highly sensitive people feel emotions more acutely, notice changes more quickly and react more strongly to looks, sounds, pain and stimulants, such as coffee or alcohol.

This sensitivity also helps us define the difference between introversion and shyness: shy people are afraid of negative judgment, whereas introverts, because of their sensitivity, just prefer quiet environments with little stimulation. Though quiet and reserved, Bill Gates doesn’t seem to care what others think of him, whereas Barbra Streisand is extremely outgoing but suffers from severe stage fright. The former is an introvert, while the latter is a shy extrovert.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History unfolds in a cyclical pattern.

-
Image
Humankind is obsessed with time –⁠ measuring it, dividing it, observing it, and most recently, controlling it. Throughout the course of our species’s history, humans have developed three distinct ways of thinking about time. The first is chaotic time, which was the dominant theory during our primitive days. In this view, historical events occur randomly. There’s no point in trying to determine the causes of events or to try and improve society because history doesn’t follow a path and there’s nothing people can do to influence it. The second theory of time, which became prevalent during the classical period, was cyclical time. The idea was that events occurred in cycles, much like the rotation of the earth, the orbit of the moon, or the procession of the zodiac. Humans can participate in and shape history by performing the right actions at the right times, thus winning favor from the gods. As such, this theory gives people more agency than in chaotic time. Finally, the thir...
Read more

Usually, the largest share of the results (output) is produced by just a small part of the work (input).

-
Image
Have you ever looked back on a project you worked on and found that most of your work was done right before the final deadline? Perhaps in the few days when you were almost out of time you achieved more than in all the previous weeks put together. In fact, similar imbalances between effort and reward can be observed in a variety of different settings. For example, many businesses have found that 20 percent of their product range actually accounts for 80 percent of their profits. Similarly, 20 percent of motorists cause 80 percent of accidents. Most motorists drive carefully, while a small minority is careless and causes the majority of accidents. This phenomenon is better known as the 80/20 principle: roughly 80 percent of work results – or output – are produced by 20 percent of the work effort, or input. Why is this ratio not more balanced? Because not every cause has the same impact on results. In fact, causes can be roughly divided into two categories: a minority that ha...
Read more

Successful people have an unwavering faith in themselves.

-
Image
Having an unwavering faith in yourself is a way of making sure that you can – and will – achieve your goals. You can only achieve success if it’s based on self-confidence and an unwavering faith in yourself: no wealth has ever been acquired, no faraway continents ever discovered, nothing ever invented without this faith as its basis. One paradigmatic example of the power of faith was Mahatma Gandhi. Even without access to the typical instruments of power – like money or the military – he managed to defy British colonial power and lead his country to freedom. The only backing he had was his unbending belief that he could exercise an influence so great upon his fellow countrymen that they would stand up for their common goals. Our own faith in ourselves has an enormous influence on our self-image and way of life. It can – in the truest sense of the word – help us move mountains. 
Read more