 So in a world with people who are loud energetic and what seems like they're more confident than you, how do you stand out in that world as a student? Let's get into it. All right guys, welcome to the MD journey. A channel completely dedicated to helping students succeed on their journey with less stress through videos and podcasts about studying productivity you name it. So if you're new here, definitely consider hitting that subscribe button down below as well as that like button if you enjoy the content of this video. If you're listening to this on the podcast, also consider subscribing on your favorite listening platform. But today I really want to speak to the introverts in my audience who are struggling because they feel like they're just as capable as their fellow students or their fellow peers, but they're not sure how to make themselves stand out because they're naturally quiet. And it seems like everyone is more confident and they look more capable, but you may just have the same amount of capabilities. You just want to really know how to make your presence known. So if you're out there, let me know in the comments down below if you're watching on YouTube, if you're an extrovert or if you're an introvert, I'm really curious what the split is between you guys. And as a full disclosure, if I had to put myself in the two categories, I definitely picked the introvert. And that seemed like a surprise, especially when you're making YouTube videos and podcasts and putting yourself out for the world. But in quite honesty, I'm a homebody and if I'm in an environment where I'm not used to the people, I'm usually the quiet one. It's not until I'm in a group of people I know for quite some time where I can actually be my extrovert itself. And a lot of you may be able to relate, but this episode is designed if you are that reserved personality and you want to know how to stand out on your classes or on your medical school rotation. So the first thing that I definitely recommend doing, and this is something that I would do, especially when I was transitioning from a medical student to a resident where I had to be more confident because people were relying on me to make decisions. And I would simply practice doing one thing every single day without a second dial. A lot of times it's very natural for introverts to be thinkers and process information and take their sweet time. But sometimes that leads us to holding back when we actually have something to say because we haven't given ourselves enough time to think or perceive if we're right or wrong. And so a simple strategy that I would use where normally I would feel more reserved and not speak up is find an instance during a day where you would normally say, okay, let me think about this and just be okay with giving an answer or a suggestion or speaking up. And as a medical student, a great example is if your attending was asked a question, normally your stance would be let me take some time and figure out if I knew it or not and only speak up if I have some confidence. But take an opportunity once a day to just speak up and give an answer. It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. It's more about building the confidence to be wrong and going from there because this can definitely help you get out of that reserved personality and appear more confident to your peers as well as your attending. Now tip number two is to create a list of topics that you want clarification on. I know I ran into this as an introvert as a med student where sometimes it was hard for me to ask questions and a lot of my peers who look like they were more confident than me or more interested in me would definitely overshadow me. And so one thing I would do is at the very end of the day, I would create a list of questions that I had things I wanted to clarify on. And the next day I would simply ask because I was interested. And it's like, hey, Dr. So-and-so, you taught about this, you mentioned this, but I didn't quite understand this. And simply doing that, one, again, builds your confidence of speaking up. So going back to tip number one, but two, and make sure that whoever thinks that you're an introvert still sees your presence, they still see your interest and your questioning. So if you're on your rotations, you're struggling with being in that reserved personality, then this is a simple thing that you can do without forcing yourself to be overly confident or overly out there. I'm just asking questions naturally throughout the day and keeping a list as you go and find things that you just don't understand. Now tip number three is probably my favorite, and that is to create mastery and silence. The best way to get people to pay attention to you is gradually become so good at something that they can't ignore you. Now a good example, and this is a personal example, is when I first created YouTube videos, I know a lot of my medical classmates probably knew about it and then they kind of shrugged their shoulders and that was it. But as I started to do it over time, people really started to pay attention and now when people ask me, tell me about your YouTube thing or tell me about the MD journey. I can speak about that in confidence because I have built confidence in talking about it. And as I do that about the MD journey, I become more confident talking about a variety of different things and that's kind of the momentum and avalanche of confidence and the ability to get out of my introvert shell. So try to find your own areas to build mastery and silence. This can be both in the medical as well as the non-medical. A quick example in the medical area would be spending 10 minutes learning about things in medicine that mostly won't show up on your shelf exams. So most of your classmates aren't covering this. But as you learn about a little nitpick of information throughout, you know, each and every day over a week, you're going to have a repertoire of information and experience and knowledge that most of your classmates don't. And so you'll be able to speak to them when naturally one just shows up in conversation or when you're attending bring something up and you're just like, I actually know that because I've looked that up. And so finding these abilities to make mastery and silence works like a charm. I also recommend you do this in your own personal life. So a quick example is I know I had a classmate who initially people would ask, you know, what do you like to do for fun? And he would say, I love to run. But as you would learn more about his running hobby, you'd find that he was actually a college athlete. He broke many records he child for the Olympics and he was running multiple miles a day before coming to school. But as soon as you started getting him talking about running, he suddenly looked like a super confident, super extroverted individual. And while he still may naturally have that reserve personality, every time you now see him, you attribute him to the thing that he's a master on that really stands out from the rest. So ask yourself things that you're doing, things you enjoy both in medicine as well in your personal life, and ask how you can spend a few minutes each day or throughout the week to slowly build something that people will eventually want to pay attention to. But those guys are a few tips that I've used in my own personal life to break out of my introverted and reserved shell and be okay with putting myself out there. And as a bonus tip, the best way to increase your confidence as an introvert is the continued iterations of practice, of putting yourself out there, of being okay, of looking silly, because eventually you're going to realize that people just don't remember when things go wrong for you, and they do pay attention when you look more confident than they in. So hopefully this video in this episode was helpful to you guys. If it was, let me know in the comment section down below. Also with any suggestions that you guys have for future episodes, and also make sure to hit that like button. And one tells me that you enjoy this content, you want more like this. And two, it also helps the YouTube channel and puts us out in front of more students who could potentially benefit from the content. And if you're not a subscriber, we're putting out two videos just like this one. So go ahead and consider subscribing on YouTube. And if you're listening to this on a podcast, definitely consider subscribing through your favorite podcast platform, as well as leaving an honest review through iTunes. But thank you guys so much as always for watching. I appreciate your support. And hopefully I've been a little helped to you on your journey. I appreciate you guys joining me on mine. I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.