[PedroCandeias]

I have a huge need to relate, which manifests in constantly interrupting to tell personal anecdotes. It hurt my personal and professional relationships. On the professional level, that was masked by being otherwise competent so I was well into my 30s before I made any changes. On the personal level, it also took me until late 30s to find a partner who called me out on it.

Being able to sit quietly and let the other person speak hugely improved my ability to interject in ways that are relevant and actually increase engagement during conversation. That led to better relationships at home and at work, which led to a better marriage and more influence at work.

I found "Nonviolent Communication" to be a good starter book.

[joenot443]

Derailing a conversation back to a personal anecdote is usually a pretty good indicator of under-socialization. I've shared many a patient look with others around the circle as the Resident Smart Guy once again brings the conversation back to himself and the things he likes talking about. Simply the words "that reminds me of a time when I..." can be enough to cause the rest of the party to zone out as another unnecessary story is told.

Glad you're working on it, it's probably one of the easiest social bad habits to 'fix' :)

[bradlys]

It depends. I’ve listened to enough conversations where someone “derailing” things with personal anecdotes actually is fucking hilarious.

You’re probably just not happy with the resident smart guy regardless of what he says. He could say anything and you’d be thinking “please shit the fuck up”.