Looking back at my early career, I often stayed quiet in meetings while others shared ideas. It wasn’t that I had nothing to contribute, I just processed things internally and waited for the right moment to speak. On one project, the team was stuck for days on a technical issue, and I had a possible fix in mind early on. But I held back, partly to see if someone else would reach the same conclusion, and partly not wanting to seem like I was trying to outshine anyone. When I finally mentioned it near the end of a meeting, the lead asked why I hadn’t spoken up sooner. I later came across a discussion at https://www.reddit.com/r/introvert/comments/1sxbdr7/myiq_score_is_high_and_i_stay_quiet_because_i where others shared similar experiences. It reminded me that it’s okay to take time to process and speak when it feels right, rather than just filling space with words. In the end, I’ve learned that thoughtful contributions often carry more weight than frequent ones.