The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in a World That Won’t Stop Talking

The Art of Manliness

We live in a chatter-filled world. People will talk your ear off when you see them in person and everyone is constantly sharing their thoughts online. But my guest would say that all this chatter may be hurting us more than we know, and it would be better to close our pieholes and sit on our typing fingers a lot more often than we do.

His name is Dan Lyons, and he's the author of STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World. Today on the show, Dan unpacks how being quiet and speaking with greater intention can improve your life. We discuss why some people tend to overtalk more than others and the six types of overtalkers out there, from the blurter to the most extreme case, the talkaholic, for whom overtalking is practically an addiction. We then discuss not getting sucked into spouting off online, avoiding conversational narcissism, the argument for spending less time working on your personal brand and more time doing quality work, how silence is power, how the best way to deal with issues in a marriage may be by not talking about them, and more.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• AoM Article: The Virtuous Life — Silence
• AoM Article: The Spiritual Disciplines — Silence
• AoM Article: The Quiet Man’s Power
• AoM Podcast #389: What It Means to Be a Quiet Professional
• AoM Article: How to Avoid Conversational Narcissism
• AoM Article: Why the Secret of a Happy, Successful Marriage Is Treating It Like a Bank Account
• AoM series on becoming a better listener
• Jonathan Haidt on how social media is causing a mental illness epidemic in teenage girls
• "Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, 'It's Unreliable'"
• International Listening Association

Connect with Dan Lyons

• Dan's website

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