The key to speaking up as an Introverted man

There’s an internal battle that goes on in the minds of an introverted man.

There’s a part us that wants to speak our mind freely and share an opinion we know can contribute to a greater cause.

There’s another part that furiously wants to make sure we have absolutely covered all bases, prepared exactly what we are going to say and have 100% evidence to back up our statement…

This internal conflict often leads to remaining silent and missing our opportunity to speak up.

If we don’t have enough worked out in our head to say something, we don’t feel prepared enough and so we would rather not say anything at all.

In other words, we would rather not share anything at all vs sharing something we are 80% confident about. We couldn’t handle getting the remaining 20% wrong, uncertain or appear underwhelming, so why share anything at all?

This leads to procrastination, not feeling heard or acknowledged, and feeling like we aren’t contributing. We let ourselves down, and judge ourselves for it.

We know we are better than this, and have so much to offer, but we stop ourselves.

We have a deep need to be respected and recognised, but how can we when we don’t voice what we believe in, input our insights and allow our presence to be felt.

How do we change this?

Letting go of perfection – Everything is arguably disputable. You’re rarely ever going to be fully prepared and if you wait until you feel ‘fully prepared’, you’ll still be sitting with your idea for days, weeks, months and sometimes years later, continually finding potential holes. Your ideas are better out in the world than not. Don’t withhold what your world needs to hear, in fear of how you may be judged for how you say what you want to say.

Own your truth – When choosing to speak your voice, own your perspective. Speak your perceptive and your truth, which may not be 100% backed by data or science, but it’s from you and your opinion is worth it’s weight in gold. Our truth, perspective, experience and research becomes our thought leadership.

Trust your wisdom – Have the courage to start the conversation or step into the spotlight, even if you don’t feel 100% prepared, trust when you begin speaking that what you want to say will come to you in the moment. There’s so much information and wisdom stored away in the depths of your mind, once you start speaking, you will be forced to tap into those sources.

Time to draw a line in the sand, and stand up for something…

Your invaluable voice.