You know, I’ve been around the block a few times, seen a lot of different ways people get things done, or rather, don’t get things done. And this whole idea of ‘loud vs eg’ – it’s something I’ve bumped into more times than I can count. It’s not about fancy theories; it’s just what I’ve seen with my own eyes.
My Early Days: Chasing the Noise
Back when I was greener, I’ll admit, I was often drawn to the ‘loud’ ones. You know the type. They talk a big game, fill the room with their voice, always seem to have an opinion, and boy, do they make sure you hear it. I used to think, “Wow, this person must really know their stuff,” or “They’re a real leader.” They had all the buzzwords, all the confidence. It was… impressive, at first glance.
I’d listen intently, try to learn from them. I figured the more noise someone made, the more action was happening, the more important they were. Seemed logical, right? If you’re shouting from the rooftops, you must have something worth shouting about.
The Project That Changed Everything
Then came this one particular project. It was a bit of a mess from the start, high stakes, tight deadline. We had this one guy, let’s call him Mr. Loud. He was all over it. Meetings? He dominated them. Plans? He had a new one every day, presented with such flair. He promised the moon. Seriously, the confidence was off the charts. And a lot of us, myself included, kinda got swept up in it. We thought, okay, he’s got this.
Well, weeks went by. Lots of talk. Lots of impressive-sounding updates from Mr. Loud. But when you looked closely? Things weren’t really moving. The actual work, the stuff that mattered, it was stalling. Deadlines started to whoosh by. Panic started to set in, but Mr. Loud just got… louder. More excuses, more finger-pointing, more grand declarations of how he was going to fix it all.
Meanwhile, there was this other person on the team. Let’s call her Ms. Eg. And by ‘eg’, I mean she was the prime example of getting stuff done, but quietly. She barely spoke in those big, noisy meetings. While Mr. Loud was holding court, she was usually just head-down, working. You’d almost forget she was there sometimes. No fanfare, no big speeches.
- She’d just quietly fix a bug that was blocking everyone.
- She’d methodically build out a crucial piece of the system.
- If you asked her a direct question, she’d give you a straight, no-nonsense answer.
Slowly, it dawned on me. While Mr. Loud was spinning his wheels and making a racket, Ms. Eg was actually laying the tracks, bit by bit. She wasn’t looking for applause. She was just… doing. It was her consistent, quiet output that started to pull the project back from the brink, not the shouting.
What I Figured Out
That whole experience, it was a real kick in the pants for me. I started to see that the volume someone operates at often has zero correlation with their actual ability or the results they deliver. Sometimes, it’s an inverse correlation, you know? The loudest ones are often compensating for something.
I learned to filter out the noise. I started paying more attention to what people did, not what they said they would do. Who was actually moving the needle? Who was solving the problems instead of just talking about them? That became my new filter.
So now, when I see someone being super loud, I’m more skeptical. I watch. I wait. And I look for the ‘eg’ people – the ones who lead by example, the ones whose actions speak for them. They’re often harder to spot, but man, they’re the ones who usually carry the real weight. It’s a lesson that’s stuck with me, and it’s changed how I approach pretty much everything, from work projects to just sizing up a situation. Took me a while to get there, but it’s a piece of practical wisdom I wouldn’t trade.