In an age of influencers, be willing to be an introvert

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Earlier today, I posted a comment providing a contrarian view on a post.

We’re all in here because of what Jake said about building the fundamentals rather than following a hype cycle - curate the context that is of value whatever happens with new features and models shipping (and unshipping - Fable, I’m looking at you) all the time. It makes sense and it works, if it didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.

But I did a lot of that learning from the outside. I learnt from this community by ingesting and reading and processing. And, because it’s open, I did all of that without hitting join.

I processed and I built. I built and tested almost every day. I read others questions. I used the search bar. I went back over Jake’s lessons.

By the time I hit join, I was ready to fork out and go straight to VIP. Because I’d outgrown the material and I had outgrown quietly consuming and I was ready for more. And I did.

And when I started participating in here, the first few interactions really shut me down. They were hurtful. I found this environment pretty unwelcoming. I was not warmly received initially.

What I was saying wasn’t resonating with the people who were seeing it. And it took a little time for the people who it did resonate with to spot it.

Here’s the point that might just be worth paying attention to - I think that I built *better* because I did it from the outside and came here when I was ready. Because I wasn’t caught up in the noise or comparing what I was doing to what anyone else was doing, I was listening to my own instincts and my own collected wisdom and knowledge and bringing that to Jake’s principles.

For me, personally, it would have been much harder to listen to that internal voice amidst the noise and the wins and the systems that people were building here. I was able to stay authentic in my building because it was a private process until I was ready to share.

At an earlier stage, this community would have made me wonder if I was missing something rather than trusting what I knew. Even with two working systems that I think are damn good, I *still* wondered if I had got it wrong given interactions in here when I hit join.

I hadn’t. I’d just done it my way.

I was paying for VIP for weeks before I joined my first high tea, because the early interactions here made me feel unwelcome and unappreciated and I didn’t want to get up really early on a Sunday morning to be made to feel bad about myself. I almost stopped posting at one point and I only posted again because

@Curtis Hays

told me that what was on my mind was something people should hear and that would add value. (He’s now done me the honour of quoting that post a number of times).

For that matter, the only reason you’re getting this post right now is because

@Ruben Aguirre

told me that there was a post in my contrarian comment and I committed to getting that sorted later (and I’m always a woman of my word).

The road to knowledge is personal and some people need to read and process and build before jumping in. Others will get nothing out of this post, because being in a community and bouncing ideas around is the right way for them. More power to you.

So, this post is for the introverts, for the ones like me who need to go away to process. Who aren’t “lurkers” but are evolving into being ready to jump in. For whom time is a lever.

To everyone who is doing that work right now, if any of you are reading this. You do you. You do what’s right for you. If you’re reading and learning and building, you’re putting in the reps. That matters the most.

And when the day comes and you are ready to hit join and your confidence is a bit shaky, tag me. I’ll be there to cheer you on. Every time. I promise.

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In an age of influencers, be willing to be an introvert