On the job and elsewhere in life, your teamwork skills as an introvert will be called into service. Don’t dismiss them—or what they can do for you.

In his 2006 autobiography iWoz, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak— an introvert if there ever was one—offers some unorthodox advice about working on a team.

Don’t.

“Work alone,” Wozniak writes:

“You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on 
a team.”

Whether Wozniak’s take is true or not is, of course, the subject of intense and ongoing debate.

But what’s indisputable is something Wozniak doesn’t touch upon: Virtually all of us—introverts, extroverts, everyone—end up being part of a team at some point, either on the job or in some other capacity.

You don’t always get to work alone.

Even Wozniak himself has surely been part of a team or three in his long and storied career.

Teamwork is part of life when life is made up of people. So you’re going to have times as an introvert when you are part of a team, either by choice or by fiat.

You don’t have to settle for simply “handling” such experiences, though, or “surviving” them.

You can make them be positive (or at least not negative!) by focusing on teamwork skills like managing your mindset, playing to your introverted strengths, and taking good care of yourself along the way.

Wipe the (Old) Slate Clean

If you’ve had less-than-stellar experiences working on teams in the past, it’s easy—albeit understandable—to go into a new team situation expecting the worst.

To the degree possible, fight that tendency. Because it’s in your own best interest to do so.

In what way?

Past experience doesn’t define future experience. If you fall into the trap of thinking it does, you’ll be setting yourself up for the potential self-fulfilling prophecy of a repeat negative team experience.

So go in assuming a good experience with good (though not perfect) people—especially if those people aren’t the same ones you’ve teamed up with before.

Play to Your Introversion

Teams are made up of individual people working on individual pieces of the project at hand.

That caters to your strengths, and preferences, as an introvert.

Yes, you’ll have to participate in large-group meetings, on-the-fly brainstorming sessions, and other extrovert-oriented activities.

But you can also find ways to do work individually for, and as part of, the team.

For example: Offer to be the notetaker at team meetings, and the person who then goes off—alone!—to write up a detailed summary of what was discussed, what was decided, and what next steps are to come.

Bonus: You’ll get the opportunity to reflect deeply on the meeting when you have more time to think, which in turn gives you the chance to add your (additional) thoughts and recommendations in the meeting summary you write.

Focus on the Potential

It’s easy—and, again, quite understandable—to dwell on what working on a team might cost you as an introvert.

But give equal time to the experience’s positive potential, too.

You might learn something: a new skill, a new software program, a new creative strategy or process.

You might also end up becoming part of a significant achievement, one you could never have accomplished on your own.

And don’t forget the personal side: You may develop a close working relationship, even a deep friendship, with someone on your team.

Dial Up Your Self-Care

When you’re on a team, you end up doing more “extrovert stuff” than you otherwise might.

So while it’s always important to take care of your needs as an introvert, it’s all the more so when you’re a member of an active team—because you’re going to get overcooked at times.

Take breaks when you need them, even if they’re short.

Tell people that you need to work alone sometimes so that you can think and focus without distraction.

And whenever and wherever you can, plan—so that you don’t have to pay the additional energy costs of being caught off guard.

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You may never prefer working on a team, but you’ll almost certainly have to (if you’re not already).

Just remember: You have much to contribute—and you can use your teamwork skills to do it in your own introverted style.