If you’re a Scanner who can’t stop thinking and start doing, I’d like to propose three small steps that, used together, will get you into action every time.

Step 1: Learn to use a new kind of planning (the BACKWARD PLANNING FLOWCHART), which won’t replace action but will actually nudge you into taking real steps.

Step 2: Let this flowchart expose any hidden fears you might be feeling that make you avoid action, so you can take steps to reduce the danger.

Step 3: Set up a REAL DEADLINE, a "drop-dead date" when you must be ready. This is also known as making an appointment with a living human being and will provide you with both the companionship that reduces stress and the accountability that makes you move even when you do feel stress.

Used together, these three steps will transform you from a planner and listmaker into an action hero. They’re quite amazing.

I won’t give you all the details here. They are in the book. But pick a goal, any goal, and do these three steps. In a new comment, tell us about your experience. We would love to hear about your goal, the hidden fears exposed by your flowchart, what steps you took to reduce the danger, and when your deadline is. We would love even more for you to return and post your progress right here on this page as you move toward just one of your many goals using these three steps. You may even want to ask for an accountability partner. But those are optional. We’ll settle for hearing how the process works for you. And for a few supportive replies or questions for your fellow book club members.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 2: Reality Research after you are done adding your comments.

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This is your chance to reflect on what you will take away from Chapter 6: I Won’t Do Anything If I Can’t Do Everything and to learn from or contribute to other book club members’ take-aways. You can also pose questions here about the chapter or what you are discovering about yourself.

The exercises we completed in Chapter 6: I Won’t Do Anything If I Can’t Do Everything included

1. Make Your Big List
2. Your Interest Index Binder

Please subscribe to future comments on this page or check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Okay. On to Chapter Seven next. Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 1: Three Magic Steps after you are done adding your comments.

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Now you need a new tool to help you keep track of all these ideas. Keep the Big List of all your interests in one three-ring binder. This is an index of every new interest that shows itself, all in one handy place. I’d start with a three-ring binder that has a 1-inch spine and a number of blank sheets. You can have dividers to separate pages, but a small sticky note attached to each sheet will save space.

Each sheet will have a different interest on it. If you were reading a magazine, like Ralph does, and came upon an article about a new breakthrough in electric lighting, you’d create one sheet for that topic and keep a log. The top entry would have the date and the title and location of the article with perhaps a brief note about the most compelling point or the most important question you had, perhaps what you’d like to do the next time you’re free. The goal is to keep all new interests in one place, like an index. There are many ways to do this on your computer too, if that’s more comfortable for you.

What’s it for? When you have a few open moments, you can look in your Interest Index Binder to see which subject attracts you and then go online to follow an interesting discussion on that subject where you can ask some questions or read what others have said. The result: You’ll stop worrying that you’ll never be able to follow up on your interests and be able to continually revisit the most interesting ones far more often than you thought was possible. That means you’ll be going into them as deeply as you want to. (You won’t be afraid of “losing” an interest, either.)

And when one binder fills up, you can start another-and put the previous one on a shelf where you can always find it.

And while we’re talking about binders…

Here’s a first-rate tool that you’ll be hearing about in coming chapters. It’s perfect for someone who has dozens of interests and likes to investigate each of them more than is allowed by putting one crowded page in the above Index Binder. What I’m talking about is 20 or 30 THREE-RING BINDERS or as many as you have room for.

If you haven’t used them in the past, you’re in for a delightful revelation when you create a different binder for every interest. Having lots of binders is part of the system. Every time you get inspired by a new interest, you reach for a new binder and give that new interest a home. When you start feeling stressed because yet another interest has arrived, one you can’t possibly devote yourself to in the way you want to, create a binder for it and put it on the shelf. The relief you feel after doing something this simple will surprise you. But it’s another way of knowing nothing will be lost and everything will wait for you when you do have time.

The best kind of binder for your needs has clear "windows" on the outside where you can slip in notes and change labels easily if you decide to discard any subjects or move them to larger binders. For these beginning binders, you want those with the narrow spine, about half an inch wide. They’re less intimidating if they don’t fill up, and they allow you to stack dozens on one shelf.

If you do a lot of your delving on the Internet, keep three-hole paper in your printer and hit the "print" button whenever you want to keep something. Put that printout in one of your blank three-ring binders, write the topic on a piece of paper and slip it into the window on the spine. This little tool will make you a very happy Scanner.

Create an Interest Index Binder or a set of individual interest binders for yourself. Add at least a few of your interests and a few notes on each one. You can use a computer or internet tool instead of 3-ring binders if that’s more comfortable for you. In a new comment on this page, tell us how this feels. Does it take any of the stress out of having so many interests? Does it invite you to pursue more of your interests? Does it encourage action? After you share your experience, I hope you will read the rest of the comments to see all the great reports from your group members and reply to some of them.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to What I Learned from Chapter 6 after you are done adding your comments.

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