Talk Early

This is my first week at a new job and during my first all hands meeting, I (unprompted) brought up a story about how I threw up on a livestream in front of a bunch of people.

Why would I do this?

One principle I have in life is that you adhere to whatever mold you have of yourself. If you view yourself as someone who works out, you do that. If you view yourself as someone who isn’t afraid to talk and bring up your opinion, you do that. But that belief first comes from doing - you can’t view yourself as someone who works out without actually working out, and the same goes for talking.

The problem with being in a new group of people is that initially you don’t have much to say. Being at a new company, I can’t bring up insightful insights in an initial all hands or present some slide. I need to find a way to talk early so I can start building the image of myself as someone who speaks up. So what better way than some comedic anecdote?

It’s easy to not speak up early. To believe you have nothing to say or insights when you don’t really know what’s going on (which… I don’t still after day 3 there). It’s when that habit builds and silence solidifies that you have a problem. That is why I always try and find a way to break the ice early so I view myself as someone who speaks up.