Latest Read: Hiding in the Bathroom by Morra Aarons-Mele

Last week I happened to see a post with a picture of the best inspiring books to read in a stack. They were all wonderful. The only thing was I didn't see a single book by a female author. I wondered if this was really a fact and googled (of course!) and thankfully found a list highlighting inspiring books by female authors. Two of them I was already familiar with and had read - Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg? and Quiet by Susan Cain. This led me to read the snippets and quickly get my hands on books that resonated with me. The first one was ‘Hiding in the Bathroom’. It was recommended to anyone who has read Quiet and would like to know more on practical tools to thrive professionally while going against the dominant workplace paradigm. The myth of one successful “type” of achiever- the intense, super social, sleep-deprived mover and shaker. This really intrigued me and so here I am sharing my 5 favourite parts.

1. Leaning in is great, but not everyone can lean in all the time ... .More fun is nerding out on your own for hours …engaging in what investor Paul Graham terms “rich, solitary, germinative time”. (pg-6)
2. Idea of Work+Life Fit as opposed to work life balance honors the notion that no two people want the exact same integration of work and personal life. (pg-38)
3. Being a hermit is a lifestyle choice. You make a choice to alter the place, pace or space of your work to better suit your need for quiet. (pg-82)
4. The successful corporate hermit (and HR/ Managers) knows that to do her best work, she needs more control aka autonomy over her schedule and space than the average person. (pg-194)
5. Although so much has been done (rightly) to promote diversity at work, there’s a giant hole in the understanding of how temperament and emotions play not just our daily grind at the office, but into the very trajectory of success. (pg-194)

The book also touches upon umpteen ideas for hermit wannabe entrepreneurs to not get intimidated by the existing ideas of super achievers but to find their unique ways to market, collaborate, network, negotiate, sell and more.

#inspiringbook #introvertworkers #hermitachievers #inclusion #workingstyle