Being a Scanner
Living life as a scanner is quite different from being a specialist or “deep diver” as Barbara Sher calls them in her book Refuse to Choose. It’s been four years since I’ve read Barbara’s book and I’m so glad that it came into my life at the time that it did.
The book provided me with validation that I wasn’t alone in the world as a scanner.
Scanners are people who have many different interests in life and pursue them all, instead of focusing on just one interest like a specialist or “deep diver” would. Career wise, scanners will get interested in a profession and dive into it with all the interest and desire of a specialist, but once they get to a certain level of proficiency they’ll just move onto something else.
Most of North American culture has been focused and structured to produce, honor and reward specialists above scanners since the 1950′s. As the technology race with Russia became the highest priority in North American culture, the hero became the specialist. The technology scientist who devoted himself to the study of one thing and one thing only became the hero, instead of the “well rounded man”.
For the last 60 years our society has revered the person who specializes in just one thing and anyone who doesn’t fit that mold is usually criticized, made fun of or looked down upon by the specialists they are surrounded by.
Typically the types of things you’ll hear specialists saying to a scanner may sound like this:
“Why can’t you settle down?”
“You need to stop dabbling in so many things and focus.”
“You’re going to become the jack of all trades but master of none.”
“You never stick with anything.”
“You have no willpower.”
etc.
The reason specialist-type people say things like this to scanners is because they think that there is something wrong with scanners. They believe that if the scanner doesn’t “settle down” and “focus” soon, they will be doomed to live a life of misery.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Scanners are totally different people from specialists. We’re just not wired the same way as specialists. Any attempt to live our lives as specialists turns into misery and torture.
The fact is that the only thing that a scanner could and should ever specialize in (if you could call it that) is being a scanner!
So what is life like being a scanner? How does a person know if they are a scanner?
Well, the best way I can describe what it’s like to be a scanner is to describe myself. See if any of this rings true for you.
First of all, I have many interests. You are just as likely to find a book about drawing superhero comics as a book on investment strategies on my bookshelf. I am a fast learner and have the uncanny ability to pick up a subject and zero in on the most important bits of information and wisdom that need to be learned in order to become competent in it.
Often times when I start something new, I dive into it full blast and to outside perspectives they may consider me “obsessed” with the subject. Often times I’ll hear people say “pace yourself” or something along those lines. Of course if they know me well, they’ll usually just say something along the lines of “Oh, here he goes again…another thing he’s never going to stick with.”
I will buy books, read them half-way and then put them aside to read another book. Once again, some will label this as not “finishing” a book.
In reality, however, scanners have a totally different intent and desire behind things. When I pick-up a book I have a very clear objective as to what I want to learn from it. For example, if I pick-up a book on time-management, I may be looking for a set of techniques to help me manage my schedule better. Once I get what I need out of a book, I put it aside. I don’t see the need to read the rest of a book when I have already gotten what I need from it.
Of course there are many books that I have “finished” by traditional definitions, but there are many more that I haven’t in the eyes of “specialists”. Finishing a book to a scanner means getting what we came to get from it, not reading the whole book in a linear way from the first page to last.
As a scanner I also love to work on many projects at the same time. As a Blogger, for example, I run many different Blogs not just one. My Blogging style is a reflection of my life.
When I come across something new to learn, one of the most important aspects of learning a new thing for me is understanding. Once I understand the inner workings of something, I tend to move onto something else, not hang around for thirty years specializing in that one thing.
When scanners dive into a new subject, we are not superficial. We aren’t lazy and we don’t have ADD. We simply don’t learn things the same way that specialists do. When we stop feeling like something is wrong with us, usually by connecting with other accomplished scanners, we can be very successful in our lives.
In reality the world needs both scanners and specialists. If I had to go for brain surgery, I wouldn’t want a scanner operating on me. I’d want a brain surgeon who has specialized in brain surgery for a long time, not someone who picked it up four months ago.
In the same token, however, there are many professions where scanners excel. Life coaching or mentoring are a couple examples. Scanners excel at these types of professions because they can relate to their varied clients.
In the army, a specialist type person might be better suited to train as a sniper for example, whereas a scanner might be better suited as being a part of a special-ops team where they are taught many different types of tactics.
There’s a place for everyone in the world.
If you think you may be a scanner and you’ve been feeling out of place i this world, I highly recommend reading Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams
You may also want to study the life of Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most famous scanners who lived in a time when scanners (called Renaissance Man or Polymath in his time) were revered and not criticized. Leonardo Da Vinci was an accomplished painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer.
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Paul Piotrowski is a highly ambitious and passionate self-improvement fanatic who has spent over 13 years relentlessly pursuing and studying personal development wisdom in almost every area of life. His highly intuitive drive to seek wisdom and truth in life has led him through very diverse areas of experience ranging from entrepreneurship and business, natural [...]
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I’m a scanner too, but I don’t mind saying for myself that it’s a bit of ADD as well.
I’ve only recently embraced this trait, before I was fighting with it for so many years but since embracing it, I have been the happiest and creative I have ever been. Design ideas are just flowing and I even began drawing which something I really struggled within the past…and people have been inquiring about my sketches.
I do get a bit frustrated with myself at times that I need to do 10 projects at once. Like I am creating a blog theme, I am also trying to develop a homewares lines and designer marketplace. But at the same time, I need to be stimulate by a number of things…or I actually lose motivation.
I am so happy though that I clicked on to the fact that I needed to embrace it. I think otherwise I would of been a very unhappy chappy.
I have Refuse to Choose as well. But I scanned through it too and stop half way…it was good but it served it’s purpose for me. To explain that is perfectly normal to be like this!
Girl Startup´s last blog ..Subscribe to Nomuu Theme
I think I am definitely a scanner! I have had pretty much all of those things said to me. I could not think of anything worse than having the same career for the rest of my life.
Thanks Paul. Excellent post and very encouraging!
I’m another scanner. I think Barbara’s book is great.
Hi Paul, I just got to reading this despite it being in my e-mail for a bit. Its interesting that I read it today, considering I have been experiencing some anxiety about my life and future. My career or lack there of has been getting to me. I do have ADD, and it has burdened me my whole life(i’m 40 this month!). I have been pro-active about learning tools and skills to counter my ADDness, but certain things in my life have always been an issue or just a straight up problem for me. A “career” and financial success being just two of them. I have done many things in my life, some I have enjoyed some I haven’t. Im at a point now that is critical I feel. I never understood how you can just pick a career. How people find their calling etc, has always bewildered me too. I use to hope that “Aha!” light would go off for me. It never has. I could go on about that stuff and my self indulgent worries, but Im just gonna go get the book. A book called “The War of Art” may be of some use to people. Thanks for the glimmer of hope. P.S. What if after studying Wallace Wattles and Napolean Hill and others and doing to the letter what they write about doesnt work? Thats where I’m at.
Hi Paul!
I’ve thought I might be a scanner for a while, ever since Rose of http://www.MagicalChest.net introduced me to the idea. I think the time is not right at the moment, but I expect I’ll read that book eventually. I gotta thank you for your post, though, because I think it’s a confirmation of what I was feeling – that I don’t want to focus on just one project in my blogging efforts. I’m going to see how each of them can mutually reinforce each other. For instance I think I can find a lot of people to read my recipe site through the search engine, as it’s very easy for people to find me by searching “vegan ice cream” or whatever. Then these vegans, who are probably quite high-conscious, may be interested in my site about happiness through perception. That’s kind of my idea, I’ll have to see if it works in the end.
I don’t always read books through either
I wonder if scanners are like what I think bisexuality is? I.e. something which is prohibited by society, so some people bury it, but all people have it to some degree. Then those who have it stronger or who are less interested in hiding their true selves come out and demonstrate it to the world.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Love
Andrew
By the way, what if it does work? – Ha, cool stuff in that comment reply too Paul
So true. We gotta take some leaps into the unknown to get what we really want out of life… I like your writing!
Andrew
Andrew´s last blog ..6 myths about indigo children and adults, debunked
I applaud your decision of going against the grain and consolidating all your interests and passions into one site. A couple days ago I read Jonathan Mead’s “How to Live Two Lives in One This” which talks about a similar idea.
It’s encouraging for me to see two professional bloggers telling us that’s it’s OK to integrate and honor all the areas of our lives and embrace we really are. The idea of partitioning, labeling and dividing people into neat compartments is part of America’s Corporate culture. It’s time we escape from the cubicle in our minds as well. Thanks for writing this post!
Hi Paul,
When I look at a form and I’m asked for my ‘Job Title’ or ‘Profession’, I’m always one to hesitate. Whatever title I’ve given myself doesn’t seem to fit. Either that or it changes like the wind. Recently, I’ve been calling myself ‘eclectic’
My parents are worried. My mum thinks I should ‘settle’ into something solid: go into nursing or work for the council. I don’t expect them to understand. I know they’re only looking out for me.
There are sooo many things I’m interested in that sometimes I’m overwhelmed; I freeze and leave my ideas all locked up in my head and end up doing absolutely nothing.
My inner diversity is something I feel blessed with most of the time; however, it’s not something I’ve completely embraced or something I’ve wholly implemented. Sometimes its insatiability is tiring. I sometimes envy people who know the one thing they wanna do with their lives and do it and feel happy doing it.
Your post is the first one of its kind that I’ve come across. It addresses the type of person I might very well be — and it puts it in such a completely accepting way; not as a burden, but as an enabler.
It took me a while to write this comment you’re reading —and in that time I’ve realised that my eclecticism is the only way for me to live well – to live good – and perhaps what is making me unhappy/unfulfilled is that I haven’t completely given myself over to it — haven’t been courageous enough. I’ve been dancing with one foot for a long time —- and often, watching other people dance their socks off.
Thank you so much for writing this post.
Take care…
@ebele: Almost every scanner I have ever met, with a few highly empowered ones, has had low confidence levels from years or even decades of trying to fit into the “specialist” mold. In a way I was the same way a few years back. The funny thing is that the minute someone awakens them to the possibility that being a Scanner can be a good thing, and not a bad thing, it’s like their whole life shifts.
In life we have stories that encompass all kinds of heroes, some being specialists while others are polymaths, so a lot of times Scanners relate to characters in movies and books more than they do to “real life”. For example, characters like James Bond, Jack Bauer (24), McGyver, Jason Bourne etc. are all based on the “Scanner” / “Polymath” / “Universal Man” archetype and you never hear people complaining that James Bond should settle down and just do ONE thing. Heck, he can’t even stick with one woman for ONE movie!
Is James Bond as good of a martial artist as a “specialist” martial artist like Jet Li ? Nope. Is he the best marksman? Nope. Is he as muscular as Rambo or Conan the Barbarian? Nope. He’s “accomplished” in all areas though and that’s what gives his character value. He’s just good enough at all those things, and he can be parachuted into any situation. That’s what makes James Bond who he is.
Anyway, before this comment turns into a Blog post of it’s own, just realize that there ARE jobs and businesses in life that can utilize the skills of a scanner just as there is a place for a James Bond like character in movies. The minute us scanners can stop wasting our energy trying to be a specialist and look for or even create such jobs/businesses/opportunities, the minute we begin to shine very bright.
Paul, is ‘scanner’ a synonym for ‘renaissance soul’? If so, then I am definitely a scanner! It has been a pretty tough journey. Especially considering the fact that I have changed interests often in the past. My family is always supportive, yet the are sometimes annoyed. It goes from video editing, video capturing, ebay business, film website, film analysis website, public speaker, graphics designer, web designer, motivational speaker, and wellness advocate. I do love my life, and I could not have asked for anything better. But sometimes, you just wish that you could settle down. It’s not in my blood, but I know things will work out for me. I see that things are working out for you as well, Paul. Your subscriber count is back, and higher than ever. Congrats!
Thank you,
Josh Lipovetsky.
PS: Another book which I have been meaning to read for years:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767920880/renaissance0f-20?creative=327641&camp=14573&link_code=as1
Josh Lipovetsky´s last blog ..Tomorrow is Today – Uplifting Miracles
Hi Paul: Thanks for your blog. I think I am a scanner too, as I have multiple interests.
Though it has also been referred to as a ‘yellow’ personality, when it comes to personality colors.
I like different things, which is why I was a reporter in the past.
Now I do a herbal magazine, but also like giving speeches, writing and taking photos.
I am also interested in helping women make money online.
@Josh – the variety of things you do/have done …sound/s delicious
@Paul – thanks for your reply. “That’s what makes James Bond who he is” – that resonated.
I’ve been running through this week bearing my inner rainbow in mind. It’s who I am.
I hope you have a wonderFULL week.
Take care…
Just discovered your blog today and man, so glad I did! I know the term “polymath” (that’s what drew me here actually) but hadn’t heard it called “scanner” before. I love it!
It’s so funny, where you said, “I will buy books, read them half-way and then put them aside to read another book,” I’ve got 3 on my nightstand right now! All at different levels of being done. I’m going to read Refuse to Choose though, all the way through.
Thanks a lot for sharing. I’m looking forward to learning more.
Matt Trostle´s last blog ..Weekly Digest for February 22nd
@Matt Trostle: Welcome to the Blog! Glad you’re enjoying your stay. If you’re a true scanner, you’re going to buy “Refuse to Choose!” with the intention of finishing the whole thing (as always), and then get what you need out of it and put it aside like I did and every other scanner I know.
It’s such an awesome book, and I’m pretty sure she knew that most scanners aren’t going to finish the whole thing so she put all the good stuff in the beginning and the the later chapters are mostly just about specific types of scanners, so you can just “fast forward” the type of scanner you think you are and refer to the rest only if you need to later on.
Matt, welcome to Paul’s blog. It’s an awesome site; you should dig in the archives, there is some information that really helped me in the past. Paul is a great dude, and he always seems to know what to write for every single reader, at the exact time they need it.
It’s a little freaky, Paul, but it makes you an even greater blogger
.
Thanks again!
Josh Lipovetsky.
Josh Lipovetsky´s last blog ..Tomorrow is Today – Uplifting Miracles
Thanks guys! @Paul, sounds good, I’ll “scan” those areas. lol @Josh I’ve already subscribed so I’ll be constantly reminded to come back. Looks like he’s got a great community behind him!
Matt Trostle´s last blog ..Weekly Digest for February 22nd
Wow, this is quite an amazing post and discussion. I’ve been the definition of a scanner to a tee and I’ve always felt quite alone in the world. My friends all have their “careers”, that one path that was meant for them, while I’ve been all over the map. In my 37 years on this planet I’ve been a radio DJ, movie director, writer, web designer, seo consultant, music supervisor, editor, actor, stand-up comic, producer, clothing designer, etc. and all of my friends and my wife say the same thing, “Pick something already!” Well, I get bored very easily, and I always figure life is short so you might as well enjoy as much of it as possible.
I also have what I like to call “Hobby Bobby Syndrome” meaning that I have a new hobby pretty much every week. This week’s was fixing my dryer. How’s that a hobby you ask? Well, I didn’t just replace a part, I tore the whole thing apart down to the last piece and spent the week researching how it works, how the parts work together, and how to fix it. In one week I learned something new and couldn’t have been happier, even it was just fixing a clothes dryer, ha!
Anyway, I just wanted to share a little bit about my history just in case it helps someone else feel like they’re not alone. Man, this post was a great find, thank you so much, you’ve made my day!
Jim Harmon´s last blog ..JimHarmonDirect- Best headline of the day765-a-bottle beer sold in dead animalswait- what
Jim that’s awesome! We should chat some day… maybe we can help each other out. I’d love to learn what you learned about being a movie director, producer, editor etc. Being a scanner is awesome…I don’t know how people stick to one thing all their lives – it sounds so boring.
Hey Paul,
I messaged you via email, not sure if you got it.
-Jim
Jim Harmon´s last blog ..JimHarmonDirect- Knight Rider theme just came on and it was so funky I had to let it play out
No I didn’t, please resend.
@Matt: If applying Wallace Wattles and Think and Grow Rich to the letter doesn’t work, then you’ll be exactly where you are now. No big deal, your life just goes on.
I think the real question to ask yourself is what if it DOES work!?
All throughout my life I am faced with those kinds of dilemmas. What if this Wallace Wattles stuff doesn’t work? But what if it DOES work? Can I really be happy lying on my deathbed one day thinking that I could have tried it out but didn’t because it seemed too “woo woo” for me? I realized I would be happier trying something like that out and it not working than not knowing if it could have worked. Of course once I tried it, it did work.
But even if it didn’t, I would be ok with that… at least I tried and learned from it.
I tried 100′s of different things in my life that didn’t work for me…so what…I only need one or two to work to get what I want… LoA, Wallace Wattles, Think and Grow Rich, those are all things that worked for me but other things didn’t… who cares though, at least I tried and learned something each time.
Once again…ask yourself… what if that stuff DOES work for you? Wow! Can you imagine? No, really…can you actually close your eyes and really imagine?