Escaping Social Awkwardness
April 27, 2021
Here's What This Post Covers
My guests today is someone who has truly made a mark and cemented himself in my life. Craig Gustafson and I met in the Made To Do This program and being 1 out of 4 men in a group of 300, it wasn’t so hard to spot him. The more I grew to know him, the more I admired his presence. Craig exudes love and light and you quickly notice it in his family as well.
Craig identifies as a social misfit; he grew in a military family, so the constant moving prevented him from forming deep connections with people; it was primarily surface-level acquaintanceship. As a result, Craig speculated to have a form of high functioning Asperger’s, meaning he has trouble recognizing social cues, cannot infer feelings of others and lacks social awareness overall.
It took years for Craig to realize that these symptoms as not normal, 50 years to be exact. With his business, Escaping Social Awkwardness, Craig’s mission is to help people just like him and cope living in a world of strange social situations.
“We all have our own brand, it’s just a matter of figuring out what the best brand of us is.”
Timestamps:
[02:24] Introduction to Craig Gustafson
[05:18] Background in Craig
[08:00] People school
[09:01] Escaping Social Awkwardness
[10:38] Impacts on his careers
[13:07] Position in submarine
[15:42] Bringing social skills to people in social situations
[20:31] Reaching the kids who need guidance
[22:18] Coming out of the service
[23:59] Steps to take
[24:36] The signs of charisma and where it comes from
[26:10] How it has effective the marriage
[28:41] How it has effective the parenthood
[29:43] Biggest lessons learned on Made To Do This
[34:12] Painfully Shy
[36:00] Losing the fear of public speaking
[41:33] Expressing gratitude
Connect with Craig Gustafson
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Thanks for listening,
Tiff