It’s no secret that most people love to talk about themselves. Facebook, Instagram, blogs, and talk shows are all testaments to that. Ask someone next to you a simple question and you might be in for a ten minute monologue. You might even find yourself doing it, even when you didn’t think you were the type to, and even when you know the person you are talking to probably couldn’t care less, either. Why do we do it? Make fun of TMI all you want, but believe it or not, talking about yourself stimulates reward centers in your brain- just like eating chocolate. And once you’re feeling good, you want to keep doing whatever it is that makes you feel that way. I  heard about a boss who, during an interview, asks the people in the hot seat to talk about themselves for two minutes. Interesting idea, right? It’s a great opportunity to sell yourself, but if I were caught off guard and asked to do this, I know I would ramble and probably ruin my chances of coming off as the perfect person for the job. But think about it: two minutes can be longer than you think, so you could probably take a few seconds to compose a coherent and impressive mini autobiography. Keep in mind that when you talk about yourself, the response you get has a lot to do with the attitude you convey. If you drone on your listeners will get bored and tune out; if you sound arrogant, it will seem like you’re boasting. But don’t overcompensate for that and fall into the false modesty trap- you will seem pathetic or insincere, or both. Just be honest and realistic. Give off a friendly vibe and include your listeners in what you are saying.  Ever since I heard about that boss, I’ve been thinking about this idea. I decided to share it because I think the concept can be very useful. Knowing that talking about ourselves is a brain chemistry thing might make it easier for us to tolerate others when they are oversharing. They are just responding to brain messages, after all. And, knowing that it’s your brain, not your ego, that makes you go on and on about yourself once you get started can make you feel less inhibited when you are too shy to start talking about yourself. And when you are talking a lot about yourself, you can continue comfortably without feeling too much like a narcissistic attention-hogger. Within reason, of course!