Pull out your Scanner Daybook and a pen. I have some important questions for you:
You’re about to discover that you may be more than one kind of Scanner. So before we move on to the Sequential types, let’s do a profile of how you’ve handled your interests, projects, and ‘hit & run obsessions’ in your past.
It may not be easy to remember everything, all the way back. Sometimes we don’t notice we’re Scanners when we’re young because most of our early schools are designed to expose us to many different subjects every day. (That’s fun for a Scanner of any age.)
As a Scanner, you’ve probably always had lots of interests, for as far back asyou can remember. Has this part of you changed in any way through the years? Were you more or less interested in many things when you were younger?
See if you can answer the following questions about yourself:
- Before the age of 12 or so, that is before I had to choose a major or think about a career, what do I remember as my experience as someone with lots of interests? (Be general or write up some anecdotes if you can remember them.)
- What did I notice regarding other people with many interests as I went through middle school and high school? Did I know any other kids like me at school? At home? Were we taught about famous people with many interests? What was the general reaction towards such people?
- At some point, students my age were expected to start making some choices. As high school seniors or in college it was considered to be time to think of special training or look for work. How did I respond? What did I decide to do?
- In college or the world of work, what area of specialty did I choose for myself? What became of all my interests at that time?
- As time went on, did my interests change from when I was younger? Did I have different interests, or many of the same ones? Was there any signifciant difference between how I felt about all my interests when I was young and freer to be interested in many things and when I had to start making choices? What do I remember?
- When (if ever) did I begin to have problems with my Scannerness? That is, when did I start realizing I couldn’t fit the typical life plan if I continued being interested in many different fields?
- If I selected a profession, when (if ever) did I start to realize I had changed my mind and didn’t want the path I had chosen? About how old was I at this time?
So what’s your score? You know there isn’t one. But you can sense that trying to figure out answers to these questions is important to every Scanner’s identity.
Scanners are so very different from each other. Especially now, when you’re learning about types—that is, what you have in common with other Scanners—it’s important to remember how unique you are. Even among other Scanners.
These aren’t easy questions to answer (they were even hard for me). You might not be able to remember the answers to all these questions right now, but you’re stirring your memory so answers will come to you as you continue to work through this part of Refuse to Choose.
But for now, you are among friends who are glad they found you. So tell us: What did you learn? Any surprises?
Answer the questions in your Daybook, then share are much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing with us in a new comment below. After you share your experience, read the rest of the comments and reply to a few.
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 13 after you are done adding your comments and reading the two pages of Chapter 13.