As introverts, we've all accused extroverts and office jerks of having big egos. They speak loudly and proudly, and dominate meetings because they need to satisfy their big egos. They steal credit for ideas or just fail to give credit where credit is due, because they need to feed their egos. From personal experience, in 99.99% of cases that's most likely true. BUT.... and this is a big BUT that introverts need to acknowledge. As an introvert, you are not taking the actions that help you improve and become the person you know you can be, because YOU also have a big ego!

No, I'm not kidding. As introverts, it's time to admit that we also have big egos. And, it is this big ego that is keeping from us from improving. From taking the simple, small actions every single day that over time can improve and enrich our lives. The big extrovert ego is trying to fulfill it's grandiose self and it's need to be seen and heard. The big introvert ego is trying to protect an ideal image of itself. You see, your introvert ego is trying to maintain this ideal image of you, that you are perfect in every way. If you take an action and fail, it threatens the ego this ideal image of yourself. Hence you only every do things or make decisions where you are almost certain of the outcome. Even if the action/decision means nobody else will see it, you ego will still try its best to protect you. After all, you get to see it. And anything that is less than what you imagined means that you ego will take a hit.

Don't believe me? Well, consider the following scenarios:

• You are a people pleaser. While a common contributing factor is your upbringing, I dare posit that there have been many times where you couldn't say no to a request (even though your logical brain is telling you to) because you didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to shine or for an extrovert to show you up.

• You get internally angry or annoyed when you come across overly social people or even people doing social activities. For example, you come across people who are frequently talking on the phone and you get this feeling of superiority because you think if they spent less time talking and more time reflecting like you, they might achieve more with their lives (even though you don't know enough about them to make this judgement).

• You look at extroverts and you think they are just self centered, loud mouths, who just want to fulfill their own egos and don't care about anyone else. (Again, I want to point out that not every extrovert is an office jerk but they're probably the most obvious ones). They speak before they think and if they had a little quiet time, they might have thought through all the different outcomes you've just thought of but didn't articulate.

In fact, the famous author Eckhart Tolle, the famous author of "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth" also stated this fact. He mentions in his conversation with Oprah that shy people are acting on behalf of their ego. They don't dare say anything because they're afraid they might face criticism or get corrected. The ego is trying to maintain this sense of superiority. You can watch his conversation with Oprah here.

Now that you know, what's the action here. The action is go back to Sigmund Freud's quote at the beginning. The biggest thing that is keeping you where you are is your ego. Your fear to speak out, you fear to take credit, you fear to make a decision, and your fear to take that one small action at a time, all stems from your big stubborn ego trying to protect you. To move forward, you need to leave your ego behind. Remind yourself of this quote "Where I was, there my ego shall be".

Recognizing and admitting that as introverts, we ourselves have big egos is the key step to take. Perhaps our egos are bigger than extroverts since they feed silently and remain out of sight. Next time you feel that wall of resistance come up, even though every fiber in your body is telling you to take an action, acknowledge that it is your massive ego trying to protect itself. It's not trying to protect you, it's trying to protect itself. See your ego as that friend that from school who you've outgrown and is starting to embarrass you in public through his/her childish actions and thoughts. Because like that friend, it's time for you to leave that ego behind and stop it from limiting your potential.