5 Tips to Help Introverts Achieve Their Goals.

On 12 April 2023, I'm getting married!!!

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My partner, Charlotte, and I have been engaged since 2019 and together since 2015, so it's been a long time coming. We have moved from Australia to England then back again during that time though, then Covid hit, so realistically, it's the first chance we've had to plan the wedding since we got engaged.

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What does getting married have to do with social media or being an introvert?

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After all, this newsletter is called #LinkedIntroverts !

Well, lucky for you, I can take virtually any story and make it about marketing…?

Like the time I wrote about having a head on collision with a 4-year-old …

My addiction to musicals …

Or my love/hate relationship with burgers …

But I digress.

You see, the thing about studying a Master’s full-time while simultaneously building a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy and a Professional Brand is that there’s not a lot of time left for anything else. Which has made me…

I’m just going to say it…

Fat. I’m fat.

Between starting uni in mid-2019, finishing uni in mid-2021 and coming up for air for the subsequent six months, I gained a solid 25kg (that’s about 55lbs for all you non-metric folk). I tipped the scales at 99.9kg (don’t you dare round that up).

I know I let this happen. Fact is, I shoved too much in mouth and sat on my arse far too much for nigh-on 3 years.

I also know why I let it happen. I finished far too many days mentally exhausted. I’m not talking a yawn here and there tired, either. I mean can’t string a sentence together tired. I pushed myself so hard that something had to give. In this case, exercise and healthy eating were not on my priority list.

And that, my friends, is textbook introvert.

In fact, introverts often live their life halfway to a flow state. Work-wise, this is awesome because when we’re not distracted we get a whole lot of work done. Everything else wise, it’s not so awesome.

Case in point, I texted my partner recently to say ‘I’ll be home soon’.?

An hour later, I texted to say ‘I’m so sorry, I’m leaving now’.

Thankfully, she responded ‘It’s ok, I know what ‘leaving soon’ looks like for you’.

But thinking back on it, it’s actually not ok.

This exact issue—where I completely lose track of time—is one of the core reasons why I basically put my life on hold over the last two years.

Yes, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the significantly increased workload played its part. But, in actual fact, I did not need to put on 25kg. I could have prioritised exercise and healthy eating. I would have fit all my priorities into my life… had I been a little more conscious of the double-edged sword that is being a highly motivated, introverted seeker of continual improvement.

I know this because, even though my workload has decreased somewhat since I finished my Masters, I’ve still been finding it hard to prioritise exercise. Aannnd with a wedding coming up and me feeling entirely unable to look good in photos, it has to change.

So, I’m finally shifting priorities to losing weight for the wedding (codename: Operation Wed-Shred). Here’s the tips and tricks I’m using to ensure Op Wed Shred is a success, which you can use to ensure your introvert focus doesn’t take over your life too.

1. Get enough sleep

I cannot stress this enough!!!

Everyone needs sleep, but in my experience, introverts need it more. We spend so much time playing tennis in our mind, it’s only natural we’re mentally exhausted by the end of the day. Our poor brains need some time out… and sleep gives us that space.

Importantly, everybody needs different amounts of sleep.

Ever looked at that millionaire entrepreneur who wakes up at 4am daily, exercises twice a day, runs a successful business, spends time with family AND still has plenty of time to do fun stuff as well because their head never hits the pillow before 10pm—yeah, that’s not me.

I know this because, about a year ago, I was fed up with trying to wake up earlier with no success, so I bought a Whoop band. After researching thoroughly, I narrowed it down to two options—Whoop or Oura. As much as I would prefer the Oura ring, the Whoop won out because it offers a monthly subscription with no significant upfront cost (unlike the Oura). Regardless, I was looking for a relatively accurate way to track my sleep… and boy, weren’t the results enlightening.

Since my time in the Army, I had always believed I needed 8 hours in bed. 10pm to 6am will do me just nicely, thanks.

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Or not…

Within a few days of wearing my Whoop, I’d identified a significant issue with my sleep. I wasn’t getting enough because the mindset that was drummed into me as an 18-year-old was no longer compatible with my lifestyle, in particular, the fact I take medication for both migraines and mental health.

Essentially, I discovered that I need AT LEAST 9 hours in bed to achieve the sleep my body needs. On nights where it takes a while to fall asleep, that can push out to about 10 hours in bed.

Have I improved my ability to get up earlier? Ahh, no. But I am being far more kind to myself because I now understand how much sleep I actually require, and I’m prioritising my evening routine to set myself up for sleep in the best possible way each evening.

Keen to give sleep tracking a try? Get a free WHOOP 4.0 and one month free when you join with my link .

2. Plan ahead

I’ve previously discussed the positives of being able to focus intensely as an introvert. However, there are numerous negatives.

Realising you’ve needed a wee for a good hour and then rushing to the bathroom before exploding is probably something you’ve done before.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve likely also forgotten to eat. So much so, when hunger strikes, you could eat the breast off a swooping magpie. The problem with feeling this ravenous is you’re aiming for the easiest source of sustenance you can find.

4 pieces of toast with peanut butter… mmm-hmm.

3 servings of last night's leftover spaghetti bolognese… yes, please.

Half a packet of Tim-Tams… hell yeah.

There’s nothing worse than being a starving introvert who’s about to keel over from hunger pangs when there’s bugger all in the house to eat.

Prior preparation and planning prevents piss poor performance, peeps.

• Grocery shop ahead of time;
• Meal prep so there’s always something in the fridge to eat;
• Have a selection of healthy snacks in the house at all times (we like popcorn, cheese strings, peanut butter bars and yoghurt); and
• Always have the ingredients for a go-to meal you can prep in 10 minutes or less (microwave brown rice, canned black beans, frozen peas and corn, and grated cheese is our ‘I need to eat right now’ meal).

3. Make non-work tasks an appointment

If I let myself, I will sit at my computer and work all day. There is always something to do, and it’s so easy to get caught up in tasks that you forget the time. To reduce the chance of me working through everything and getting to the end of the day having done nothing but work, I do two things:

Schedule all non-work tasks in my calendar as appointments

This includes exercise, appointments for the animals, fire brigade training and even breaks like lunch and dinner. The snapshot below shows my calendar on a regular week, with all work tasks in blue (dark blue for meetings), exercise in light green, fire training in yellow, other personal tasks in dark green and travel in purple.

Set alarms/alerts for everything.

Whenever I have an appointment coming up, I set an alarm on my phone leaving me enough time to get ready for the appointment. I also have daily and weekly alarms for important but easy to forget tasks like taking medication and putting the bins out. Most importantly, alarms tell me when it’s time to take a break or finish work for the day. Check out the screenshot below to see some of my alarms.

4. Never skip days off

I have to be honest, this is a skill that’s taken me a long time to learn.?

In the past, I’d often get to the end of the week and beat myself up because I didn’t feel like I’d achieved enough during the week. So I’d force myself to work the weekend to make up for it. Naturally, all this did was exacerbate the borderline burnout I was already feeling.

Oddly enough, I didn’t fix this issue by sucking it up and just taking weekends off…

We began using Time Doctor within our company to track the work time of all employees, identify how much time they’re spending on each task, and ensure they’re not overworking (ironic huh). Once I began using the system myself, I realised I was actually working full days consistently but due to my solid focus, I was getting to the end of each day forgetting what I’d actually achieved. I now use Time Doctor to track time and a to-do list to record and cross off the tasks I complete each day, so that when the weekend comes around, deep down I feel like I deserve the break.

5. Create a great team

I've put this last because I believe you can't help someone who isn't prepared to help themselves. Steps 1 to 4 are all about things you can do to help yourself. However, even though we introverts love our alone time, we never have to face challenging tasks on our own. It doesn't matter if you're building a business, trying to lose weight or studying, it always pays to have a great support system around you.

In my case, Charlotte and I are completing this journey together and it's a great help having one of us to say 'no' when we've had a bad day and we're thinking 'takeaway it is'. I also have a coach who I speak with fortnightly, and we focus on the mindset challenges around losing weight. Finally, I have a training buddy who I go cycling with, without whom I would likely exercise far less. Having this support network around me is literally the key to my success, and I'm not confident I would be making tor progress I am without this team.

Regardless of your goal:

As an introvert, it's important to set yourself up for success. So no matter what goal you're trying to achieve, always ensure you:

• Get enough sleep;
• Plan ahead;
• Use your calendar and set alarms for everything;
• Take enough time off; and
• Build a supportive team.

Rightio, that's it for today. I'm off for one of my pre-planned breaks.

Catch you in the next newsletter.

Tara x