Saturday, January 2, 2016

Accept that you are a Scanner



Accepting the fact that you are a Scanner is often a huge weight off the shoulders. Now you can stop trying to fit in with everyone else, and you are now free to follow all your interests instead of just one like "normal" people do.

It's like forcing a parent to choose one of her children and feeding ONLY that child. You just cannot do that!!! No parent should be able to do that either but it illustrates the point of how we Scanners feel when we are constantly being pushed into ONE passion or one niche. We just cannot do it, or we are miserable and unhappy if we try.

God knows I have felt that way in some of my jobs!!

Barbara Sher asks two very enlightening questions in her lectures.
These are from her book Refuse to Choose.

1 - How many of you wish that you were one of those people who have always known what they wanted and followed one path with certainty and clarity?

Most people in the audience raise their hands.

Are you sure? Barbara asks. Most of the audience nod their heads. So then she asks the next question.

2 - Okay then, Raise your hand if its OK for you to do one thing and one thing only for the rest of your working life?

Pretty much noone who is a Scanner raises their hands. They have looks of horror on their faces and several comments like "That would be just awful!!".

If you also have the same reaction to these questions, then you too are a Scanner.

There are 3 reasons why Scanners cannot be forced into ONE niche.  

1 - Scanners must find a way to follow every path that interests them. They cannot have FEWER interests.

2 - Scanners dont want fewer interests.

I know this for a fact. There are times when I am bored and I actually and intentionally, surf the internet looking for something new that is interesting!!!!

3 - Scanners can, so they must explore many things.

This is one reason why the Internet is so addictive to a scanner. I call it a passion because when I am online, I can learn so many new things!!!!

So why do Scanners act this way? Scanners need variety because they have brains that process things very quickly.

I also know this for a fact because I don't know how many times I have jumped the gun in a lecture or a talk, and asked a question before the lecturer has even mentioned the  topic. The response is always - Hold on, I'm getting to that. 

The main reason Scanners are different from others and the reason they get noticed for not sticking to anything is because they learn faster than almost anyone else.

I can still remember my father telling that after I was born, that I had bright and very alert eyes. Even as a baby I was interested in the world around me.


This is me in the year I turned 2 years old. Reading this huge book on World Architecture, or at least looking at all the pictures. I'm pretty sure that this was a Larousse book too. 

The signs were there for anyone to see. But no one put all the clues together, not even me.  I did not learn that I was a Scanner until I was in my 40's!!






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