How Introverts Can Be More Confident When Meeting People

Last month, I was at PSB Academy STEM Campus, and I was interviewed by Marc Wong for a series of videos that he has been planning to produce for the benefit of students and alumni of PSB Academy - a series that he calls Career Cookies - with a short message in each video, like fortune cookies (which, if you watched Iron Man 3, is an American invention, not a Chinese one).

But I digress.

Marc asked if I would speak about introversion and how introverts can become more confident when they meet people. So, I did.

And here's the video!

3 Tips in the video:

1) Have a Conversation Starter with you. For me, it’s often a book or my camera.

2) Aim to meet just ONE person per event. Follow up, and talk to this person about something that interests you.

3) Keep practising! All skills can be mastered!

The importance of networking shouldn't be discounted when you're looking for a job or moving up the career ladder. But for some people who might be of a shy ...

A Post-Christmas Post

It's been a busy Christmas weekend. With an extra public holiday on Monday, I was able to spend more time with my friends than I otherwise would have.

Though we didn't exactly discuss New Year resolutions or next steps, having some casual time was very welcome, especially since we have been very busy over the past few months and only met up sporadically.

It seems that 2017 looks to be a year of great transition. Friends are getting married, doing up their newly-bought homes, planning the next phase of life.

It was a rainy Christmas Eve when I took the picture attached in this post. And it was on that day that I stumbled upon Valuetainment on YouTube, an entrepreneurship-themed channel headed by Patrick Bet-David, as I spent a lot of time over the weekend pondering my next steps.

I spent hours watching the content and found Patrick to be down-to-earth and straight-talking with his advice and knowledge. Truth be told, I wondered why I hadn't come across his channel sooner.

I sent the link to a few of my entrepreneurial-minded friends and continued to learn from the videos. One of Patrick's videos encouraged viewers to download and do a questionnaire on his website. When I looked at the questionnaire, I realised how in-depth it is and how it wants to bring past mindsets, hurts and fears to the surface. 

I have yet to do the questionnaire, but I will over the next few days. I hope to emerge with a better understanding of myself and be clearer in my plans for 2017. Once I'm through with it, I'll likely post an update on what I learned from it. Until then, stay tuned.

You may never see this post, Patrick, but thank you for putting up such great content, and for being so open and generous with your experience.