You know the moment—I bet you can picture it.

Here's the scene:

Was it just me, or did every movie from the 80s and 90s have this scene?

Halle Berry did it in Catwoman.

Salma Hayek did it in Frida.

Jodie Foster did it in The Accused.

And we can’t forget Deb (played by Robin Tunney) in the best teen movie of all time: Empire Records.

What an absolute legend.

But it's a ridiculous trope, right?

Girl gets upset. Girl cuts off hair. Girl changes her entire identity and struts out of the bathroom like a total badass.

The sort of BS screenwriter make up—because who would do that in real life?

*ducks, slowly raises hand*

Yeah… I did.

Let's rewind a minute.

Let me take you back to my senior year of college.

Our protagonist—College Jessie—was quiet and shy, with mousy brown hair that went halfway down her back and a totally questionable sense of style.

I was utterly forgettable.

Camera pans right on by.

But after four years working my way up through the front-of-house staff at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, I’d been hired to be a house manager.

It was a real, professional, adult job. A job that required you to command respect and have authority.

And I…

Well.

People regularly walked past me and talked over me—I was utterly ignorable.

At the end of my first night, I remember standing next to Chloe (the house manager who was training me).

We were looking out the lobby’s windows, chatting while we watched the lights on the Space Needle. My attention slowly shifted to our reflection.

Chloe wasn't much older than me, but was light years more put together. She had these cute business casual outfits and a short bob of tight brown curls that I'd always admired. Her lipstick was perfect.

I was wearing my nicest pants, which were baggy to hide my shape, and a sweater that hung off my scrawny frame. My limp, long mousy hair framed my pale, un-made-up face.

I was over it.

I went home that night, grabbed a pair of sewing shears, locked myself in the bathroom, and chopped my hair off—just below my ears.

Dramatic, much?

I've been a short hair girlie ever since.

(And, god—if broke College Jessie saw how much I spent on haircare products to keep this sassy bleach-blond pixie kept up, she’d lose her mind.)

I wish I could say I walked out of that bathroom confident and powerful for the rest of my life.

In truth, it took me years to feel comfortable in my own skin. I’m still a hardcore introvert, and I still have to fight tooth and nail to claim space.

But I used to make myself utterly forgettable on purpose.

When people ask me what I did, I would deflect. Turn the conversation back to them. Get them talking about themselves so I didn't have to talk about me.

Now, getting people to talk about themselves is literally my day job as a book coach and ghostwriter—it’s what gets me paid! But if it’s all you do, you’ve got a problem.

No one remembers you.

Deflection is one of the great tools introverts use to feel safe, and it was my MO for years.

But when you don't talk about yourself, you don't give the other person any details or stories to hang their impression of you on.

You slide right out of their mind.

Here’s the thing, though—you don’t need to become an extrovert in order to be memorable.

You don't even need to have a Drama Queen moment and chop off all your hair in a bathroom.

You just need to get comfortable talking about yourself—and what you do—on your own terms.

I'm teaching a (free!) training in two weeks as part of the Introvertpreneur Summit.

It’s called the Introvert’s Story Bank, and here's the concept:

You don’t need to become more extroverted, you just need to add a Story Bank to your introvert’s toolkit. A clutch of stories you can quickly draw from for any scenario.

In the training, I’ll be showing you 5 types of stories every introverted entrepreneur needs to have at the ready. By the end of this webinar, you’ll have 1 story drafted and a plug-and-play template to build out the rest.

It'll give you a huge boost of confidence—no scissors required.

(Though if you also wanna cut off your hair dramatically, I'm so here for it. Tell me everything!)

The Introvertpreneur Summit is April 27-29, and it’s totally free to attend.

Don’t miss that training!

Yours in introversion,

Jessie

P.S. Here’s that link again for the Introvertpreneur Summit. Along with my presentation, there are 30 other speakers who are talking about everything from mindset to sales—all aimed at introverted entrepreneurs.

It’s entirely free!

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place.

(And, just FYI that's an affiliate link. The summit is totally free to attend, but if you end up getting the all-access pass I will get a little bit of a cut. Plus, anyone who signs up using my affiliate link will get instant access to my "Your Year in Story" course!)