Are You A Type A Introvert?
Are you a Type A Introvert? Successful leaders are often thought to have Type A personalities. People with Type A personalities are described as being competitive and work obsessed…these people tend to be impatient and talk quickly…which sounds a bit like extroverted behavior. Type B personalities on the other hand are more relaxed, flexible, and laid back
Of course, being a Type A personality is not the sole purview of extroverts. In fact, introverts can be just as competitive and work obsessed. We have no problem putting in long hours especially when we are working on something that we are passionate about.
Just because we are introverts doesn’t mean we don’t want to get the highest grade in the class or be recognized for being top salesperson of the month.
And because we are introverts we have one major advantage over extroverts: we can keep quiet about our how our work is progressing so as not to show our hand. Unlike extroverts who become energized by talking; we have no need to talk about the work we are doing, while we are doing it.
However, we are similar to extroverts in that we can easily become impatient when we feel pressured to get something done. This impatience can manifest itself in the form of blurting. We will sit quietly watching the conversation go back and forth, thinking about what we want to say, and then if we are not given the chance to participate we BLURT out what we thinking.
Over the years I’ve found myself blurting out my thoughts and ideas while conversing with others. When I finally became aware of what I was doing I tried to stop myself from doing this not realizing that this was due in part to my introversion.
Recently I mentioned this to a friend. After giving my concern some consideration she agreed with me that as an introvert she too was “guilty” of blurting.
Which leads me to my next question? What exactly is blurting?
Just for fun I decided to check in with Google. According to the dictionary blurting means saying something suddenly and without careful consideration.
Whoever wrote this definition does not know much about introverts.
Introverts tend to blurt, but we do it after carefully considering what we want to say. In fact, we may have been thinking about what we want to say for some time and become frustrated by not having the opportunity to participate in the conversation.
Am I a Type A introvert? You be the judge. For most of my adult life I worked full time at a demanding job, juggled my family, friends, and personal life (what personal life?) and attended graduate school…not once but twice. In those days I had a very short fuse and quickly became impatient when I was short on time, which was most days. These days I tend to be more laid back and relaxed, partly because I became aware of my Type A behavior and have worked hard to change it and partly because my life is not so hectic.
Here is some additional information about Introversion that you may find interesting: