STFU — A Guide For People Who Talk Too Much

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll say I’m a talker. Ask anyone who has known me for a few years, and they will likely say I talk too much. Ask someone who just met me, and they might wonder where you got that idea.

Years ago, I started to evaluate TTM syndrome (Talk To Much… don’t look for it in medical journals, it ain’t there, I’m sure) and as I started to look at other TTMs, I was surprised.

My self-diagnosis started with someone who actually talked more than I did, and had less of a filter. Something I wasn’t sure was possible. Make no mistake, this was one of the smartest people I had ever met. In our more meritocratic communities, such as my job in Technology, this wasn’t (always) seen as a bad thing. That kind of behavior, however, doesn’t foster brainstorming and creative problem solving in others.

Feel free to forward this to someone whom it may help. If you received this, it’s not for YOU, but for someone close to you, I’m sure.

So, in light of the fact that I just “talked too much” in the intro, here is a guide I made for myself. Edited and updated over the last few years. It was intended to be a book, but for now I think the ideas come across just fine in an outline format.

Self-Identifying

How to identify if you talk too much

• Co-workers turning away from you and focusing on the keyboard
• Family and friends actively disengaging