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2025-10-16 06:00:00| Fast Company

Have you ever felt like your brain was one of those viral egg experiments, cracked open and sizzling on a bare sidewalk that was truly, much too hot? You may have been experiencing signs of burnout (and dehydration). As an introverted professional, Ive been there as well, many times in my career. Over the years, Ive developed healthy reflective coping methods to recharge my batteries and prevent (or at least combat) that intense feeling of overwhelm.  As a LinkedIn Top Voice and a very public keynote speaker whos learned to grow in the spotlight on my own terms, Im not the best at pretending to be an extrovert for any extended period of timeits too tiring! Instead, Ive found success by setting clear boundaries both online and offline, especially with growing my personal brand. Its how I stay true to my brand and avoid the dreaded burnout. And guess what? You can do the same. Youve probably tried a few personal branding tips that didnt work as well for you as an introvert, because they possibly felt too extroverted for your style.  Here are my real-life strategies grounded in my own experience and ones that I feature in my new book Personal Branding for Introverts. These are the ideas that let me recharge properly while building a real, lasting brand. Overcoming Overwhelm With Boundaries  As an introvert, youre likely to think more deeply and be more overwhelmed during events, big meetings or conferences, and that takes a lot of energy. Performing personal branding steps like making content, networking, or being active online can be really tiring for you (and me).  Setting boundaries is the ultimate learned superpower for an introvert to combat the drowning feeling of being overwhelmed both in your daily life and at big events like conferences. It allows you to decide when and how you interact with others, which helps keep your mental health in check and allows you to show up as the best version of yourself at work. When you allow the people and activities that give you energy into your sphere and avoid the ones that take it away, you can create a brand that is easier to maintain in the long run. Lets go over four ways to think about boundaries as an introvert. 1. Establish Clear Boundaries Between Work and Personal Life While organizing my own work week, I think of this quote by Stephen Covey: The key is not to prioritize whats on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Focus on what is the most important work task for your week and use an energy-first approach to encourage your own  balance and focus. Consider the following strategies: Match Work Hours with Your Energy: Prioritize the times of day when your energy and focus are highest. For example, if you are wide awake and alert in the morning, try scheduling meetings between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. rather than later in the day. These morning (or afternoon) hours are your core focus times and should be protected. Designate Time for Focused Work: Save specific blocks of time for your best uninterrupted, quiet work. Lessen the general distractions around you by limiting your email inbox and message time. Create A Habit For Your Work Day End: Start an ongoing ritual or task that marks the end of your work hours. This might include taking a comforting walk, writing in your journal or blog, or simply turning off your social or Slack notifications for a bit. These cues help reinforce the boundary between work and personal time, allowing your mind to transition and recharge. 2. Rethink your Endless Meetings Ever hear of the office saying This could have been an email? Not every meeting needs an in-person chat. If youre able (and allowed to) express your thoughts in an email or message, do that. Fewer live meetings means more energy for focused work. Group similar meetings together on the same day or days if possible so theres less distractions. That way, the rest of your schedule stays more open and quiet. Also, leave time between meetings. At least 15 minutes and a quick walk outside or inside the office will help you reset. Back-to-back calls can wear you down quickly and harm your focus. 3. Strategically Manage Your Digital Energy Ive watched many introverted professionals experience burnout from attempting to maintain a constant presence across multiple platforms. Focusing your energy on one or two channels leads to being able to deep-dive more into those spaces, and introverts excel in being thorough thinkers. Try these energy-saving tactics: Pick One Platform: Focus your energy on one or two social media platforms where your target audience is active. This platform should also be where you feel comfortable and capable of maintaining a presence that wont fizzle out in a month.  Batch Content Creation: Create a bank of posts by setting aside dedicated time once a week or month to write, record, or design your content.This method lowers the pressure to be constantly working on new ideas and allows you breathing room for more thoughtful, consistent content creation. Determine Your Response Times: Find and segment out specific time blocks for responding to all of your messages or comments across social media platforms, such as 30 minutes every Tuesday at 11am. Its helpful to do this so youre less distracted by a ton of notifications at work. As your audience grows over time, this method will help you maintain balance and sustainability. 4. Prioritize Rest and Recharging Throughout the day, I intentionally give myself short breaks. A walk to feel the sunlight and get some vitamin D. A few deep breaths away from sitting in front of my screens. These pauses allow me to reset mentally and clear my head.. I treat alone time as part of my daily rhythm. Reading. Writing. Walking. Or just sitting quietly. These deliberate time pauses replenishes my energy while keeping me grounded. Persistent fatigue, lessened focus or the need to hide from everyone (social anxiety, anyone?) can be a clear and early indicator of burnout at work. Instead of ignoring these signals, consider them thoughtful invitations from your body to begin to slow down and rest before you fully burn out. Establishing and maintaining boundaries is crucial to growing a personal brand as an introvert and will stop overwhelm and burnout before they spiral out of control. Boundaries are wonderful tools that enable your brand to grow consistently and in a healthy way. You do not need to be everywhere online or offline or constantly available. Instead, focus your energy and attention on being present during specific blocks of time that you choose.  Your audience will recognize the intentionalityand so will you. Adapted from Personal Branding for Introverts. Copyright  2025 by Goldie Chan. Available from Basic Venture, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.


Category: E-Commerce

 

LATEST NEWS

2025-10-15 23:14:00| Fast Company

In January 2025, Los Angeles suffered an unspeakable wildfire tragedy, destroying at least 17,000 structures, and with tens of thousands of people forced out of their homes. Almost immediately, government officials declared a state of emergency and laid out a path to rebuild like for like. However, in the aftermath of such disasters when rebuilding from the ground up, is like for like the best way to proceed? These disasters provide an opportunity to future-proof our neighborhoods for the next generation of environmental challenges. In face of seemingly endless, floods, fires, rising temperatures, and energy crises, we must take the time to rethink our way forward. PLAYING WITH FIRE In L.A. alone, just over quarter of a million homes are located in hillside high-fire hazard zones. The allure of views and exclusivity often comes with increased risk as most flames, especially wind-driven ones, spread much faster uphill. Any upslope overhanging structures, such as wooden decks, provide perfect fuel for upslope fires and once ignited, the flames easily transfer to any connected structure. So, how does one capitalize on the hillside views but simultaneously manage the danger? Having a fuel modification zonea clear area of land around structures that essentially removes fuel for wildfiresis a definite first step. The use of noncombustible materials should be encouraged including wood composites, standing seam metal roofs, and noncombustible claddinglike plaster, or Hardie panelsmade from a combination of cement, sand, cellulose fibers, and other additives. These remain intact for several hours before beginning to break down, even when exposed to high heat. For a recent project in a risk-prone canyon, we also designed a perforated metal fire shield, separated from the house by a couple of feet. It provides a layer of protection against the sun but also repels flying embers. A fire shield is also a straightforward modification for existing homes, and a consideration for new construction. We can build additional safety nets through landscaping by using water-retaining plants like cacti and other succulents strategically around the property. Drought-tolerant planting is both environmentally sound and practical, as these plants retain water to provide another barrier of protection between the outside and the home. A FLOOD OF QUESTIONS With increasingly frequent hurricanes and flooding, home design needs to finally begin to respond to these recurring events. Mies van der Rohes Farnsworth house in Plano, Illinois is located in a flood zone but designed so that the living quarters were raised above flood levels at that time. This resulted in one of the most iconic home designs of the 20th century, essentially proving that great design can be achieved while solving for extreme environments. In addition, all essential infrastructure should be raised above flood levels. Construct permanent barriers around the home, especially if adapting existing buildings to respond to environmental pressure. Sites should be graded to slope away from the structure. Use concrete piers for foundations or, better still, permeable foundations to relieve hydrostatic pressure. Install sewer backflow valves to prevent sewage flow into the home in the event of flooding. People looking to insulate existing homes against environmental stressors, like frequent flooding, who cant fully modify an older property can introduce an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) designed to be entirely flood proof, providing a safe place to land if the original propertys defenses are breached by water. These ADUs can be constructed to be entirely off grid and raised above flood level, using nontraditional materials like concrete to insulate against fire and wind events. RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES During the Palisades and Eaton fires in L.A., due to power shut offs plus damages from wind and fire, nearly half a million residents lost power. In a time when many jurisdictions are aggressively moving toward exclusively electric power, hardships are compounded by loss of power as people are left unable to heat their homes or cook their meals even if they have not been directly impacted. It is imperative that homes can weather a crisis by having enough independent energy to power their essential services. Electric power, especially when obtained from renewable sources like solar panels, is a more economical and environmentally responsible option. If this is coupled with adequate battery storage to power the homes essential services, it is easier to weather a crisis. Rolling power shut offs are also becoming increasingly common in response to scorching temperatures around the country, so energy independence should become a priority for homeowners to insure themselves against an outage that is a direct result of environmental stress. BETTER, STRONGER, SMARTER After the January wildfires, the City of Los Angeles released an emergency declaration to clear the way to rebuild homes as they were and allow rebuilding like for like. While well intentioned and sweeping in its reach, this declaration should be strongly resisted. We must oppose the temptation to recreate exactly what was lost and instead focus on creating a model for development that minimizes the chance of destruction occurring again. With climate change and extreme weather events happening with increased frequency, we need to adjust to this new reality by hardening our homes, both existing and new, and embracing the opportunity to rebuild better, stronger, and smarter for future generations. Nerin Kadribegovic is founder and principal at Kadre Architects.


Category: E-Commerce

 

2025-10-15 22:36:00| Fast Company

We are fully committed to AI adoption, the CEO told me, proud of the companys recent employee training initiatives. But is AI just another tool in their toolbox, or a new way of working? I asked. Silence. Your number one enemy is the lack of an answer to this question, I continued. Your employees are hearing doomsday predictions about how AI will soon eliminate their jobs, so they resist and reject these technologies. Most importantly, they have no idea who they will become after AI is adopted, I concluded. This isnt the first time Ive witnessed this overly enthusiastic, roll-the-dice approach to AI. Once again, technologists are scaring business leaders into embracing the latest technologywithout any business context or strategy. The results are always the same: high resistance, early failures, disappointment, and no real return on investment. Gartner has rightfully crowned this as the hype cycle. The AI world is now divided into fans and foes. The fans cite endless statistics, insisting that adopting AI is absolutely criticalotherwise, extinction looms. (Case in point: the CEO who famously fired 80% of his staff for failing to embrace AI. A masterclass in fearmongering.) The foes, meanwhile, wave a recent MIT study as proof that the benefits of this technology are overstated. That study found only 5% of task-specific AI tools were successfully deployed in organizationsclear evidence of the challenge in specialized AI rollout. In contrast, 40% of generic generative AI tools (LLMs) succeeded, often driven by employee initiative rather than top-down directives. The foes refrain: Leave us alone. Well get there when we get there. URGENCY WITHOUT STRATEGY Both camps wield data devoid of context or direction. They pursue technology for technologys sake, forgetting that organizations do not exist simply to use the latest tools. Tools are just thattools. Its strategy that should be steering the companys investments and efforts. But what if we dont have the answers yet? What if we are navigating uncharted territory, still assembling the puzzle? Sometimes, the unknowns far outweigh the newly discovered. Welcome to the world of real strategy. Strategy, by definition, is not an insurance policy. It comes with no guarantees. A real strategy embraces riskthe possibility of failure from both external changes and internal missteps. Competence in strategy means being able to say, I dont know, and still move forward. Strategies do not need all the answers up front; they need built-in flexibility to adapt as the unknown becomes known, and to guide the organization toward its goals. Absent a strategy, AI becomes a patchwork of experiments with no clear success metrics. With strategy, every effort is framed by the possibilityand definitionof success. BEYOND CORPORATE STRATEGY: PERSONAL STRATEGY Given the fear AI stirs among workers, organizations must consider an additional layer: personal strategy. The World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, 39% of workers core skills will be different. The most importantand fastestgrowing skills include: AI and big data Analytical thinking Creative thinking Resilience, flexibility, and agility Technological literacy Leadership and social influence Curiosity and lifelong learning Systems thinking Talent management Motivation and self-awareness Networks and cybersecurity With so much reskilling ahead, employees need their own personal strategy, a thoughtful approach to letting go of outdated skills and embracing new ones. They need to design their roles in the context of these new capabilities and chart a path to their next career milestone. Just as companies challenge employees to automate tasks with AI, they should also challenge them to envision how they will evolve, and what new talents they must develop. THE 3 PERSONALITIES While technology changes rapidly, the human response to change remains remarkably consistent. I am not referring to resistance, but to the varied ways people adopt change. Looking back at past transformations, we can identify three distinct personalities of change adoption: The efficient adopter: Do less, betterThis employee leverages new technology to reduce routine workload, focusing on accuracy and quality. They use technology to deepen their organizational competence. The effective adopter: Do more, fasterBy embracing automation, this employee increases both capacity and output, positioning themselves as creators of greater value. The evolving adopter: Do differentlyThis employee uses the technology not just to improve, but to redefine their role completely. They explore new responsibilities and avenues previously unavailable. The technology may be identical, but employees will utilize it according to their comfort and strategy, each seeking a different outcome. All three types enhance performance and contribution, but through individually tailored strategic approaches. Giving employees a choice reduces fear, fosters control, and allows progress at their own pacewithin the companys broader AI adoption journey. FROM PERSONALITIES TO A JOURNEY In my experience, empowering people to select their personal path accelerates adoption. Often, these three personalities become a sequence of milestones. Employees may start as efficient adopters, progress to effective adopters as confidence grows, and ultimately become evolving adopters. Freedom from fearmongering about job loss fosters a human-centric, resilient approach to technologyand to change more broadly. In Next Is Now!, I argued that the true measure of competitiveness is not in skills or products, but in the speed and scope of adapting to change. Recent World Economic Forum reports reinforce these as essential skills for thriving in our new realitycapabilities that transcend AI and will remain relevant through future upheavals. When steel-based construction emerged in 1890, cities like London and Paris limited building heights to 10 stories, clinging to the old world of concrete-based construction. New York City, on the other hand, had the visionand the strategyto embrace skyscrapers, accelerating technology adoption and surpassing its European rivals. The fear of change, and the hype surrounding new technologies, is nothing new. The lesson: Provide strategic context and human compassion; skip the unnecessary fights and harvest the benefits faster. Lior Arussy, author of Dare to Author! and chairman of ImprintCX.


Category: E-Commerce

 

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