I (22M) am in my first year of university studying Media Design. For this year we need to make a group project. Our professor divided us into groups.
I’m not a very social person (very introverted, I would say) but when it comes to school/work stuff I can handle it and work together with my teammates perfectly fine.
However, there is one teammate in particular that I don’t know how to deal with. Basically, he talks too much. So much to the point that it distracts me from working on the project. The stuff he talks about is not related to the project at all and I’m not very interested in it if I’m being honest.
I have asked him to talk less and focus more on the project and he says he will do it. But he keeps going on and on. All day, every day. It’s very annoying and I don’t know what to do about it.
To give you an idea of how much of a talker he is: sometimes I even just ignore him. I know it’s rude but it seems like he talks so much that he doesn’t even realize that he is being ignored. I end up saying things like “ah yes” or “oh cool” without even knowing what he is talking about. I don’t feel very good about it.
And again, I keep telling him to focus on the project instead of talking so much about other stuff. But he is unstoppable. I don’t mind taking a break and talking about something else for a few minutes but with him, it’s so hard to deal with.
Any advice would be appreciated!
1 comment
It sounds like you need to be a little blunt with this person. However, blunt doesn’t necessarily mean rude or mean or nasty.
It could go something like this.
“I’m having a hard time concentrating due to the amount of conversation that’s happening. I need at least 10 minutes of peace right now.” This one gives the person clear instructions. After ten minutes, you let them babble on for a while then ask again.
You could ask make an emotional guess about them to see if it’s something you can problem solve. So you could say something like, “I’ve heard of people talking excessively when they are feeling uncomfortable or nervous. Are you feeling uncomfortable or nervous for some reason?”
There’s also leaving the situation entirely. “I can’t concentrate in this environment. I’m going to work on this in a quiet place, but we can reconnect at XXX time at XXX place. See you all.”