...but I don't want to be cold & prickly

So... what is it about me? Really? Why is it that people shy away from me and use words like "intense" and "intimidating" to describe me. Why are people scared of me? Why is it that I can shave, shower, and dress cleanly and still be sitting next to the last available seat on an otherwise packed bus? I don't bite, I don't swear, I don't yell... I don't get it...

I see myself as a person who works hard and focuses on what he's doing. I am not a person of half-measures, and I believe in commitment. I push myself hard and have high expectations of myself, so as a result I've been able to do things to which few others aspire -- but I don't think that make me any less friendly or kind. Why don't I have a chance to demonstrate this before being labeled as intense? Even when I do get the chance, why doesn't it make a difference in their ultimate description? Have the characteristics of commitment, hard-working, and focused stopped being virtues? Why is it that I am seen as a monster or, at the very best, someone to be kept at a distance?

Why can't people see that what I do is only what I do, not who I really am?

More importantly, what can I do to change this?