Don’t wait for it.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

We often complain that we don’t feel like working on something or we lack inspiration.

But do you know what is more likely to motivate you?

Getting to work.

It’s a proven fact that nothing inspires a person to do something more effectively than action.

Sitting on your couch and waiting for motivation makes you stuck in a loop.

A loop of inaction and lack of motivation.

You don’t want to work because you don’t feel motivated enough and you are not getting any motivation because you are not doing anything.

Writing random stuff on paper is more likely to get you to complete that article than sitting on your ass doomscrolling your phone and waiting for inspiration that may never come.

Inaction can only inspire lethargy and complacency whereas picking up the hammer inspires creation of masterpieces.

So, next time you are waiting for motivation, don’t! Better get to work.

Key Takeaway:

When you are lacking motivation, just show up and get to work.

Work causes motivation and not the other way around.

Cheers,

Sachin Sharma

and what happens when you don’t?

Dear Authentic Introvert,

There is so much in life that is handed to us by chance, and we don’t have much say in it.

You and I can whine as much as we want to but can’t really change them.

Like the household or the country we were born in, the way we were raised and the temperament we inherited (studies show it’s 40-50% of our personalities).

However, some gracefully embrace what they have and make the best of it.

The problem arises when you start comparing your privileges with those of your peers or sometimes your own parents (I don’t blame you, I’m sure they’ve done the same on occasion).

You could be making some valid points there, but you can’t change them regardless.

If you start attributing all your challenges to what you can’t control like your inheritance and upbringing, you lose the motivation to do anything about it.

I don’t need to tell you from what background Abraham Lincoln came from or what the victims of the Holocaust went through with absolutely no fault of theirs, but you get my point.

Everybody is handed their own set of privileges or the lack of them but it’s up to you what you make of it.

You can either spend your lives blaming your genetics or come out victorious and live to tell your story of how despite your genetics, you became who you are.

The latter sounds much better, doesn’t it?

Key Takeaway:

Life hands us circumstances by chance, but it’s our choice to either blame them or rise above and create our own story.

Genetically mutated,

Sachin Sharma

expecting the opposite is.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

The biggest challenge one faces while working on a long-term endeavor is being unsure of the result.

This is a big reason very few go through with it and may shine while others give up at some point.

In a previous email, I discussed detachment from the outcome and finding purpose in the journey itself.

The same approach can also help you deal with the uncertainty.

When you want to be a hundred percent certain of the outcome of your every action, there are only a few things that you can actually do, and you’ll have to let go of most opportunities.

The need to be certain stems from your fear of failure.

But if you think about it, failure is not such a bad thing.

Because if you don’t ever try for the fear of failing, you are getting nothing.

This is exactly what you’d get if you tried and failed.

So, wouldn’t it be better to take your chances?

It’s similar to Pascal’s Wager, proposed by Blaise Pascal.

He argued that it is a better bet to believe in God because if God exists, one stands to gain everything, and if not, one loses nothing.

Keeping an open mind about the possibilities turns out better than rejecting something completely because you can’t know for sure.

Therefore, it’s not the uncertainty that’s the problem, expecting certainty is.

Key Takeaway:

Taking chances is better than doing nothing because you might succeed instead of guaranteed failure by not trying.

A risk taker,

Sachin Sharma

So have I.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

Just yesterday, I came across a Reddit post that struck a chord.

It was from someone who felt their introversion was causing them to lose friends, and they were on the verge of losing another.

This resonated with me deeply.

As an introvert, I’ve experienced this too—the slow drifting apart from friends who don’t understand our need for space.

But I’ve also been blessed with friends who stay, who understand that my silence isn’t a sign of disinterest but a part of who I am.

True friendship isn’t about changing your nature to fit in; it’s about being accepted for who you truly are.

A friendship that demands you to be someone you’re not becomes a heavy burden, one that gets harder to bear over time.

It’s a familiar story for many of us who thrive in our inner world—sometimes we just don’t reach out as often as others might expect.

And yes, it can lead to misunderstandings and even the loss of friendships.

But here’s the thing: those who truly get us, who appreciate our introspective nature and our need for solitude, they stick around.

They don’t just tolerate our introversion; they embrace it.

These are the friendships that are worth their weight in gold.

They’re the ones that don’t force us to choose between being true to ourselves and maintaining a connection.

They’re built on mutual respect and understanding, not on the number of texts we exchange or the frequency of our hangouts.

So, let’s shift our focus from the quantity of our social circle to the quality of our connections.

Let’s cherish those few but mighty relationships that make us feel seen and valued for who we are.

After all, isn’t it better to have a handful of friends who love us for our authentic selves than a crowd of acquaintances who barely scratch the surface?

It’s not about how many friends you have; it’s about having the right friends—the ones who will walk with you through the quiet moments and the loud ones, who will give you space when you need it and be there when you’re ready to share your world.

Here’s to those forever friends, the ones who understand without words, who stay by our side through every silent retreat and every heartfelt conversation. They are the true gems in our lives.

Key Takeaway:

Introverts may lose touch with some friends, but those who truly understand and accept their need for solitude are the ones worth keeping for a lifetime.

Respecting your space,

Sachin Sharma

P.S.: If you ever feel like you’re struggling to maintain friendships or want to deepen the connections you have, reach out. Sometimes, a little guidance can go a long way in nurturing the relationships that matter most.

Make sure it’s meaningful this time.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

Thinking about making a change in your life?

Like a new job, a new home, or even moving to a new city?

Change is usually good—it means things are moving forward.

But if you find yourself wanting to change things up too often, it might be a sign of something deeper.

Feeling stuck is often where the need for change comes from.

Maybe you’re not as excited about your life, your work, or your relationships anymore, and you feel like you need to break free.

But if it’s not about being stuck, then maybe what you’re really missing is feeling fulfilled.

All the noise—your busy life, your job, and all those little responsibilities—might be getting in the way of seeing things clearly.

If you don’t figure out why you’re not happy with where you’re at, you might keep changing the wrong things and end up running in circles.

You don’t have to wait for some big moment of realization to come.

Think back on the last 5-10 years. Was there something big that happened? Something that really shook you up emotionally?

It made you think hard about where your life was headed, but maybe you brushed it off.

It could’ve been losing someone important, a tough breakup, a hit to your finances, or a wake-up call about your job or where you work.

You need to really think about how that event made you feel and what changed in how you see the world or other people.

Then, take a good look at your life now and see what’s not matching up with those feelings.

Maybe you figured out that money isn’t the top priority, but you’re still in a job just for the paycheck.

Or you realized that the people you thought had your back didn’t show up when you needed them, and you’re still hanging around with them.

It’s probably something you should’ve dealt with back then, but didn’t.

For me, it was seeing that by always being there for people I cared about, I ended up not being valued by them.

This hit me back in 2017 when things weren’t great with my parents, and some relatives I thought were on my side started turning them against me.

That changed how I acted for the next few years. I stopped worrying about what people thought or how they reacted.

I learned that people can be unpredictable and easily swayed by what they think and who’s talking in their ear.

I stopped making choices just to make others happy or to fit in with what they liked.

Since then, my life has taken a turn for the better.

I’ve found that by honoring my true self, I’ve attracted relationships and opportunities that resonate more deeply with who I am.

The voids I once felt compelled to fill have become less daunting, as I now seek fulfillment from within rather than from external validation.

This shift has brought a profound sense of peace and a stronger connection to my authentic self, empowering me to live a life that’s genuinely mine.

To truly thrive, it’s essential to identify the real reasons behind your quest for change.

Once you uncover these truths, take decisive steps to align your life with your core values.

This is the path to lasting fulfillment and authentic living.

Key Takeaway:

Reflect deeply on past events that have emotionally impacted you, understand how they’ve shaped your current feelings and life choices, and courageously realign your actions with your true values for a more fulfilling life.

A Changed Person,

Sachin Sharma

and it’s not taking a break.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

I don’t know if you’ve experienced it but burn out is becoming more common now-a-days.

Not just because life has gotten harder, and the competition is getting fiercer.

Also, not just because of how demanding our work is and how maintaining a work-life balance has become the biggest challenge for our generation.

But because of our awareness.

We are so exposed to information, other people’s experiences – their wins and failures that peer pressure becomes inevitable.

And this only adds fuel to the fire of self-doubt and makes burn out harder to deal with.

Positive self-talks have lost effectiveness and finding a good counselor or therapist is like finding a needle in the haystack.

And they don’t come cheap, and the affordable or free alternatives are flooded with people like us.

The demand is much higher than the supply.

Like it or not, most of us are left with no option but to figure things out on our own.

I have been facing an unexplained burn out for the past 2 weeks.

Unexplained because I understand feeling burned out when you have been constantly grinding without taking a break, and then your mind decides to give up.

But this was not one of those – I have barely started working on my niche, am not expecting any gratification anytime soon and am fully aware of how I need to be resilient and patient with the process.

And yet, I started feeling this deep feeling of despair.

I initially thought it was just a creative block, so I took a full day’s break from everything.

And then extended it to one more day when I still didn’t feel re-energized.

And then one more day…

before I realized that something was not quite right.

I couldn’t get to the bottom of this, but I could no longer afford breaks, so I decided to work with whatever I had left in the form of creative energy.

But one more day passed, and I couldn’t write that YouTube video script and couldn’t post or engage on LinkedIn like I should have.

And the longer I stalled, the worse things got.

Self-doubt gripped me and overthinking bred more negativity.

Finally, I decided to write a script no matter how bad.

And so, I wrote with little attention to its quality, the hooks, the engagement, and the pace.

I finished it and it seemed okay, so I wrote another.

Not because I was excited or motivated to write more but because now, I was feeling the same way about shooting as I was feeling about writing.

I just wanted to stall it without being unproductive.

Next day, I decided that I had to shoot the video anyhow.

And yet after stalling for a full day, keeping myself busy with mundane stuff, like upgrading my logo and redoing old thumbnails and titles, I started shooting at midnight.

Shot both videos in one go because I had the scripts and I didn’t want to go through with setting up the camera, lights, and mic once again.

Yesterday, I decided to do nothing but edit one of them.

I did waste a lot of time but kept editing with the same mindset as writing – just finish it no matter the quality.

Posted it at 1:00 am and went to bed.

As I laid down, this amazing sense of achievement took over me and I felt as if a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders.

The stress was gone, and so was the self-doubt.

I could see my bright future again and my faith in my abilities was restored.

This was no less than a high, I tell you.

I reflected on the whole experience this morning and realized how overthinking had paralyzed me.

And the longer I stayed in that situation the more powerful it got like a python’s grip intensifying with every breath its prey takes.

So, here’s the lesson:

To free yourself from the clutches of overthinking and self-doubt, take action while ignoring everything that acts as an ally to the problem – perfection, quality, performance etc.

You can revisit every one of those later but not now when you are weak.

Key Takeaway:

When self-doubt becomes overpowering, forget everything else and let action take the center stage.

In action mode,

Sachin Sharma

Or are you a boring perfectionist?

Dear Authentic Introvert,

We often get anxious whenever we have to respond to a situation impromptu.

We are so used to being prepared for everything that any opportunity to act spontaneously feels like a crisis to our overly defensive brain.

But why?

It’s because we have trained ourselves to follow a pattern of making the best choice in every situation.

We tend to over analyze, over think and over prepare for even the petty things.

Therefore, when we have to respond out of turn, our normal response is anxiety because there is no time to prepare and choose the best response.

Sadly, our education and then our work culture have trained us to lose our spontaneity.

But what if we aim for the mistakes?

Yes, you read that right.

If we deliberately make mistakes and train our brain to be okay with it, we will act more relaxed.

And learn to treat an unexpected opportunity like an opportunity and not a crisis.

Here’s a fun exercise for you to practice making mistakes (it’s harmless, I promise):

Whenever you take a break, look at the things around you and call each one by the wrong name.

You can call your chair a horse or your laptop a pizza – it’s your call.

However, what you cannot do is follow a pattern or logic to assign the wrong names.

For instance, you can’t call your chair a horse because you can sit on both.

Or you can’t use all names that start with the letter “B” or names that rhyme or the ones that belong to the same category (like naming everything after fruits).

It has to be random. No pattern.

Practice this every now and then, and you should feel more relaxed about breaking patterns and the more you do it, the more spontaneous your reactions will be.

Key Takeaway:

Practice making mistakes to be okay with it and be more spontaneous.

yOrs TRooli,

Sachin Sharma 😉

without freaking out.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

Imagine this:

You are in a team meeting listening to your boss explain an important agenda.

And when you are least expecting it, she turns to you and asks:

“What do you think we should focus on next?”

You look at her and then your teammates; everyone is staring at you.

You are forcing your brain to come up with something but…

Your mouth dries up and you start sweating.

As moments pass, you realize things are getting more and more awkward.

And you see your boss’s face turn from questioning to disappointed.

What an embarrassment!

We have all been there and when we look back on that day, we can think of a hundred ways we could have answered.

But we couldn’t because we weren’t prepared.

Why does this happen?

This nervousness comes from your habit of coming up with perfect answers.

And when you aren’t prepared, it becomes too much for your brain to think of different ways to respond and choose the best one.

And the fear keeps rising as you see your audience getting more and more uncomfortable with your silence.

How can you manage that?

And I say ‘manage’ because you don’t want to get rid of this anxiety completely.

It’s how your brain knows that you are in a serious situation, and it is important to focus.

The problem is getting overwhelmed with this fear.

Here’s how this fear can be managed:

First, learn to acknowledge this fear. The more you try to hide it, the harder it tries to show like a kid seeking attention.

You need to be okay with people seeing that you were caught off guard and that’s a normal human reaction.

Next, you need to stop treating the situation as if you’re getting ready to perform for your audience.

Because when you are performing, you want to get things right just as you’ve prepared.

But this is a spontaneous situation so you can’t really perform and there is no wrong way to respond.

Treat it like a conversation.

But just telling your brain to think of it as a conversation won’t fool it.

You have to do something to mean it.

The best way is to ask questions.

What kind of questions?

Simply paraphrase what you’ve been asked:

“So, you want my opinion on what our biggest focus should be to get the desired result, right?”

Doing so makes everyone in the room comfortable and gives you time to process the information.

Now your brain can think more clearly.

And lastly, come up with a spontaneous (not the best) answer.

Because the best one would be full of formal jargon, but a spontaneous one would feel more authentic and effective.

I am making a video on how to practice spontaneous communication and it should be in by Friday (watch out).

That’s the gist of it.

Sometimes being genuinely imperfect is better than overly prepared perfection.

Key Takeaway:

Speak more spontaneously by having a conversation with your audience and by not trying to give the best answers.

Spontaneously introverted,

Sachin Sharma

if the opposite is causing inaction.

Dear Authentic Introvert,

Sometimes when you have too much to do, you end up doing nothing at all.

Ever been there? Me too.

That’s why having a massive goal constantly hanging inside your brain does more damage than good.

Everybody talks about the benefits of having goals in life and I get it. This gives you direction.

But the problem starts when the anxiety of how to achieve something that big starts crippling you.

You keep procrastinating until the last minute and then you either rush through stuff in stress or give up because it’s too late.

What good is a goal if having it feels like Superman facing Kryptonite.

I am not religious, but I read the Holy Gita last night (the Bible for Hindus) because I wasn’t able to sleep, and I found something very profound.

Long story short, there is a guy named Arjun who must fight his cousins, uncles, and teacher to get his empire back that was taken from him through unethical means.

He looks at his relatives, gets emotional, and decides not to fight. He says he doesn’t want an empire tainted with the blood of his own.

To this, Lord Krishna (God), who is acting as his charioteer, advises him to detach from the outcome of his actions and look at it as performing his duty as a warrior.

The whole book is a compilation of the God’s teachings on what life truly is and how a person must focus on performing duties in order to ultimately find and connect with the Almighty.

If we apply the same principle to our work and keep ourselves detached from the outcome – treating success and failures with the same calmness, we can be unbeatable.

Here’s the thing: getting emotionally attached to a goal makes you really feel that you have a long way ahead of you – its vastness, its difficulty level, and the underlying uncertainty.

But if you only focus on your work and the process,

and work on it not for the outcome but to make sure that you’re doing your part,

the whole thing will feel a lot less stressful.

This will in turn make working on it a lot easier, which should result in a better outcome.

It’s a good hack, isn’t it?

Key Takeaway:

While working on something, keep yourself detached from the outcome or the end goal so the anticipation of the challenges involved doesn’t slow you down.

Your charioteer in the journey of Introversion,

Sachin Sharma