I'm difficult to work with. Especially this year, I have a lot of long-term group projects for school because of senior capstone projects. 3 weeks into the semester, my teammates are likely already tired of me.
I push back hard against group meetings. I believe perfect is the enemy of done. I am a ruthless follower of the 80/20 rule. I do my best work when I'm alone with headphones on. I check my phone and email as little as possible. I care more about some of my personal projects than I do about a project for a class. I have a strong bias to believe that I am right - both in my beliefs about group work, and my opinions on our project.
All of these add up to make me hard to work with. I am not proud of these things, but I do believe in many of these ideas quite strongly.
I've often heard that some of the smartest, most insightful people are extraordinarily difficult to work with. Steve Jobs is a classic example. Being willing to take a bold stance and question assumptions is important. But how do you know when you are questioning norms that need to be questioned versus just being obnoxious? I'm still trying to figure that out.
