Escape From Pianosa

1. Sign up for a networking event or social gathering where you won’t know anyone.
2. Go alone.
3. Walk into the room/bar/pavilion and approach the first group of people you see.*
4. Open your mouth and start talking…

If you’re like me and you grew up as an introvert, you’ll probably feel everything from terror to exhilaration. But really, once you get going, it’s a lot of fun and you’ll feel like a natural. Try it. Once you start you won’t want to stop…

*Ok, I’ll be honest. My first stop was the bar. I have a profound respect for any organization that believes its members are worthy of the Open Bar. And a beer in the hand is the perfect prop for socializing. A prop, not a crutch. Drinking yourself into oblivion to summon your inner extrovert is considered cheating. You’re not fooling anyone you drunk.

Update: more on becoming an extrovert here.

Forbes.com interviewed several of this year’s top billionaires, and as I was reading through some of them, I noticed three things that repeated over and over again:

1. Exercise daily.

2. Follow your passion.

3. Read. A lot. At least two hours a day, but many said they read four or more hours a day.

Great advice, and by the way it might help you to live longer as well; many of them are in their 80s. More about thinking like a billionaire here.