Darryl Heronhttp://about.me/darrylheron

REFUSE to CHOOSE(Are You a Scanner?)

About This Presentation

In 2012, I read about Scanners in "REFUSE to CHOOSE“ by Barbara Sher. This was one of those light balb moments when things clicked and a lot of things made sense.

I personally believe that a lot of people that have been diagnosed with some sort of Attention Defict Disorder are probably Scanners

If you‘ve struggled to succeed in life or you have felt out of place wondering what you should do with your life, if you have often had difficulty making a decission (big and small) you just might be a Scanner. It is my hope that I can help introduce the term "Scanners“ to the greater masses and if you beleive that it would be worth while for you to look into this further, that you will have a look at Barbara Sher‘s book. I‘m sure glad that I found it!

Are You A Scanner?

Do any of the following sentences apply to you?

• "I can never stick to anything.“• "I lose interest in things I thought that would interest me forever.“• "I can‘t stand to do anything twice.“• "I won‘t choose a career path because it might be the wrong one.“• "I think everyone is put on this Earth to do something; everyone but me that is.“• "I pull away from what I‘m doing because I‘m affraid I‘ll miss something better.“• "I‘m too busy, but when I do find time I can‘t remember what I wanted to do.“• "I‘ll never be an expert in anything. I feel like I‘m always in a survey class.“

Well, there is a good chance that you might be a scanner!

Scanners in the Candy Store

"To scanners the world is like a candy store full of fascinating opportunities, and all they want to do is reach out and stuff their pockets.“

"Scanners are starving in the candy store. They believe that they‘re allowed to pursue only one path. But they want them all. If they force themselves to make a choice, they are forever discontented. But usually Scanners don‘t choose anything at all. And they feel good about it.“

Divers vs. Scanners

• A Diver is "someone who is happy being completely absorbed by one field.“ "These people may 'relax‘ with a hobby, but they‘re rarely passionate about anythng but their field. In fact, Divers often wonder how people can be interested in anything but what they‘re interested in.“

• Scanners are "always curious to know 'what‘s out there‘ and love to poke their noses into just about anything. A Diver rarely spends a moment wondering what he might be missing when he‘s totally absorbed in his field. On the other hand, 99 percent of Scanners spend a lot of time scanning the horizion, thinking about their next move.“

Zen Buddist Riddle

Question: How long should you stay at something?Answer: However long it takes to get what you came for.

Question: How do you decide what you came for?Answer: You don‘t, you discover it.

Question: How do you discover it?Answer: You notice what isn‘t there anymore when you feel like leaving.

The Top Obstacles for Panicked Scanners

1. You fear critics. You‘re feeling watched and trying to be perfect. You‘re constantly droping what you‘re doing because it doesn‘t seem good enough and you feel like you‘re wasting time.

2. You‘ve created a "See, it‘s impossible!“ list. This is a list with tons of reasons why you‘ll never get what you want and it all seems logical

3. You‘ve unintentionally made your projects too big. You don‘t always need 2 PhDs, huge bank loans, etc…

4. You don‘t feel that you deserve whatever you want, that you don‘t have a right to be happy, you need to be thinking about other people, not just yourself.

5. You think that you‘re the reason, that you don‘t have what it takes, you‘re not really trying, or something else along these lines

6. You‘re pulled in too many directions. It‘s virtually impossible to decide what direction to take. You‘re looking for a sign that will at least point you in the right direction.

Commitement Phobia

• "What if I sign up for the rest of my entire life to some miserable job where I‘m bored to tears and it eats up my life and wastes my abilities?“

• To a Scanner making the wrong career choice is like being stuck in a horror movie and no one can hear your screams.

Commitement Phobia Phone List

1. You must choose only one path in life2. Everything that you love has to be a career, you can‘t do something only for the

fun of it3. If you‘re not in love with your job, it will be a living hell4. You can‘t make the wrong career choice because every career choice requires a

huge investment in terms of money and time5. Once you‘ve made a choice, you‘re stuck serving your sentence with no chance for

parole6. If you‘re not passionate to the point of obsession, you won‘t be able to give all

your other interests.

I Never Finish Anything

Sound familar?

• "For me, starting something is the most exhilarating part. Optimism, the promise, the passion, the absolutely giddy feeling of excitement that always happens for me when I begin a new thing. The trouble is, very soon the gloss disappears, the hard work has to begin, and I start to feel lost.

• I look around my house and see all the unfinished projects that I‘ve started with such gusto and never got back to. But they‘re sitting here staring at me, reminding me of my failure to complete another project.!

• I work enthusiastically and then crash, and the whole thing looks stupid, so I give up.“

Types of Scanners

• Double Agents

• Sybils

• Plate Spinners

• Serial Specialists

• Serial Masters

• Jacks-Of-All-Trades

• Wanderers

• Samplers

• High-Speed Indecisisives

*The different types of scanners are shown in light blue slides

Double Agents

• Have you given up a dream because it‘s unrealistic?

• Would you love to live in more than one country or have more than one career?

• Do you believe that life is full of hard choices?

• Do you ever consider just quiting your job and starting over in something you love?

• Do you somethimes think your problems would be solved if you were two (or more) people?

Double Agent Fantasies

"sometimes they have fantasies of being two people, one who does the right thing and another who is free to live her dreams“,

Sybils

• Do you ever wish that you were 20 people?

• Can you name all the projects that you‘d love to work on?

• Have you been interested in them for a long time?

• Do you have a major clutter problem; do you often mislay imporatnt parts of what you‘re doing?

• Would you love to finish a project before you move to another, but you‘ve almost never done that?

Plate Spinners

• Do you enjoy the challange of keeping lots of projects going at once?

• Do you find it hard to say no when people ask you for help?

• Do you like learning only when it solves problems, not for its own sake?

• Does it feel good to be needed, to feel you‘re making a difference?

Serial Specialists

• Does your work record look like it should belong to more than one person because you‘ve changed directions so often?

• Do you immearse yourself deeply in a project or job for so long it looks to others like a premanent life choice?

• Do you find that once you get the hang of what you‘re doing, you‘re ready to leave and start somewhere else?

• Did you ever think your problems might be solved in reincaration were really true?

Serial Masters

• Do you love taking on a learning challenge? Do you look forward to the struggle against your own limits?

• Is it exhilerating to move from ignorance to competence and to realize you‘ve done well because of your own efforts?

• Have you ever wished you could clone yourself so you could keep learning new things?

• Do you get satisfaction from showing people how you do it better? Do you wish you could change their value of their own limits?

• Do you enjoy being in the spotlight, giving demonstrations, getting

respect and perhaps applause?

Jack-of-All-Trades

• Do you have more certificates and degrees than most people---all in different disciplines?

• Are you good at just about everything you try?

• Have you ever thought your problem would be solved if you were good at only one thing?

• Do you notice that other peopIe are passionate about things you merely like?

• Would you rather learn how to plant a garden, work with friends to paint a house, or just have a great day with your family than any job you can think of?

Wanderers

• Have you always gotten interested in unrelated activities for no apparent reason?

• Are you intrigued by things that people around you find boring?

• Do you like trying on new jobs and lifestyles?

• Do you love adventure and new experiences: people, places, sensations?

• Do you lack a sense of direction in your life and see only the next move?

• Do you wish that you had a map and a destination?

Samplers

• Have you ever wanted to experience just about everything?

• If you had your way, would you never do anything twice?

• Do you prefer to learn by doing, rather than reading or hearing about something?

• Once you know how something is done, are you ready to move on?

• Do friends and family think you lack ambition?

• Do you wish that you‘d live 200 years so you could learn everything that interests you?

High-Speed Indecisisives

• Do you love to bite off more than you can chew?

• Do you dislike having to finish one thing before you start another?

• Do you quickly grasp new ideas before others even notice them?

• Do you feel guilty because you drop new interests so quickly?

• Do you see potential where others see nothing?

• Do you secretly suspect you‘re not looking for one right thing at all?

• Wen you‘re forced to conform, do you feel like you‘ve been put in a small cage where you can‘t stretch to your full length?

• Do you wish you could find a career that lets you change one interest for another at least once a day?

Scanners You Might Know

Ben Franklin, Aristotle, and DiVinci would probably all be considered Scanners!!

New Inspirations…

• "Every week I get inspired to do something. Some project, some way to be the new me!!! I‘m completely committed to it for a week or two, then I lose interest and find yet another, really cool thing to be obsessed about. I seem to wander from one area to another, randomly. What will I ever do with my life?

• If only I could use all the things I learned in my exploring instead of wasting them. Is that even a possiblity?“

New Passions

• "Life is too short to do anything twice. Left to my own devices, I‘d investigate some new field every few months and let the previous passion go without a thought.“

Good at a lot…

• "I‘m good at a lot and great at nothing. I can‘t believe I‘ll ever find my passion. I‘m always hoping that the next thing I try will be the one: the one thing I shine at, my calling, my brilliant career.“

Pulled in lots of directions

• "I‘m pulled in so many directions at once that I usually can‘t move at all.

• I have half-finished books, businesses, board games, and Weblog. I‘ll never have anything to show for any of my interests.

• Whatever I do, I feel like I‘m missing something else I want to do.“

Something is missing…

• "I have nice friends, a nice family, a nice life, and I don‘t mind my job. But there is that nagging feeling that something is missing. When I go looking for what that could be, many things look good, but nothing looks exciting. I wish I knew what I was looking for.

• My job is okay, but it‘s really not enough. I wish I had a way of bringing more interesting things into my life. But I don‘t want to go back to school. I don‘t think that would solve the problem anyway.“

Scanners Are Often Amateurs

Amateur, n: from Latin: One who loves

1. Somebody who does something for the pleasure rather than pay

2. Somebody who has only limited skill in, or knowledge of, and activity

3. Somebody who loves or is greatly interested in something.

4. Somebody who appreciates and wants to understand so many things that she can't possibly specialize in only one field; i.e., a Scanner

Call to Action....

Now You Know...What Will Do Now?

I created this presentation to share with others what I have learned about being a scanner, so that others in a similar position to myself would find this wonderful manual on how they can make the best of their many talents and interests.

I challenge you to find out more about yourself and to spread the word about Scanners!

Lastly, us Scanners are very creative people, what will you create to tell the world about Scanners?

REFUSE to CHOOSE!By Barbara Sher

Publisher: Rodale Books, 1 edition (March 6, 2007)

ISBN-10: 1594866260ISBN-13: 978-1594866265

Discover more about being a Scanner as well as strategies for dealing with the type of scanner you are….

Good News….Many of Barbara Sher’s book are now available as ebooks that you can read on your Kindle, iPad, and other devices!

Thinking Through Refuse to Choose: 101 things every Scanner should knowBy Barbara Sher

ASIN: B00AZMKLO8

Look for Barbara Sher‘s books and ebooks on Amazon and where ever you buy your books and ebooks...

Barbara Sher’s Wikipedia Entryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Sher

Barbara Sher’s Website:http://www.barbarasher.com/index.htm

email:mailto:from-web@barbarasher.com

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Sher/36803804102

Twitter:http://twitter.com/BarbaraSher/

LinkedIn Group: Scanner Tribehttp://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2201408&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Barbara Sher & Social Media…

About.mehttp://about.me/darrylheron

Darryl Heron‘s presentations on SlideSharehttp://www.slideshare.net/darrylheron

Email me:mailto:darrylheron@about.me

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