awkwardness

Awkwardness gets a bad rap, but the trait is often an indicator that someone is extraordinary.  

Psychologist and author Ty Tashiro has spent a great deal of time studying (and living!) social awkwardness. He's fascinated by how the same traits that cause us social embarrassment can also drive exceptional accomplishment. 

As a fellow awkward person myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Ty about the advantages of being awkward, what the socially fluent can learn from awkward people, and the best way to navigate conversations in loud clubs.

This...is A Bit of Optimism.

For more on Ty and his work check out: 

His book: AWKWARD: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome.

tytashiro.com

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Fun-raiser vs Fundraiser, Second Drink, and Hottest In The Office. All of this can only mean one thing, we've made it to The Dundies episode of The Office! The Ladies talk about the origin of The Dundies, Jenna shares a mishap from The 40 Year Old Virgin premiere, and the biggest question of them all is answered, "Is this Pam and Jim's first kiss?". We hope you feel God in this podcast tonight.

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Melissa Dahl (@melissadahl) is a senior editor covering health and psychology for New York's The Cut. In 2014, she co-founded New York magazine's popular social science site Science of Us. Her first book, Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, is out now.

What We Discuss with Melissa Dahl:

• Awkwardness does not have to make us feel alone -- in fact, the things that make us cringe can serve to remind us of how connected we all truly are.
• Our concept of ourselves is often constructed externally -- by how we think other people view us.
• How awkwardness can help us have tough conversations about race, politics, and gender.
• How we can stop stop reliving embarrassing memories.
• How to remap and reframe feelings of awkwardness or embarrassment and use them to our advantage.
• And much more...

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Full show notes and resources can be found here.

You’ve likely experienced an awkward moment or two in your life. You say or do something that’s out of social sync, leaving the person you’re interacting with bemused, and you feeling like running and hiding under a rock. 
While awkwardness is an uncomfortable feeling and can hurt us socially, my guest today argues that there is some upside to it too. His name is Ty Tashiro. He’s a psychologist and the author of "Awkward: The Science of Why We’re Socially Awkward and Why That’s Awesome." Today on the show Ty highlights his research on awkwardness. He explains what exactly we feel when we feel awkward and what triggers the feeling. He then digs into why some people are more awkward than others and the detriments that come with being socially awkward. Ty then shares things chronically awkward people can do to be less so, like developing social algorithms and studying manners. We end our conversation discussing the upsides of awkwardness and how to balance it with the downsides. 
If you struggle with awkwardness or know someone who does, this episode will provide you a lot of actionable advice and insights on both embracing and mitigating your social propensities.