Answer all the questions, then click here

1. Oh no! Not another ‘great’ idea! Look, there’s another fantastic idea, and another thing I want to learn about! Who am I kidding? I did the same thing last week, twice! I’ll never do anything about my ‘big’ ideas. I have to stop having ideas or I’ll never get anywhere.
   
   What do you think you should do for thought number 1?
   
   
   Show the hidden answer for thought number 1
   Write that idea down in your Scanner’s Daybook—with care. Make it clear like a letter to someone who might have to do it for you!
   Remember Leonardo Da Vinci’s messy notebooks! He didn’t even try to do 99% of the ideas he put in them. (Actually, the technology didn’t exist yet to do most of them.) But that didn’t stop him so don’t let it stop you.

   Remember there’s no law against letting your mind play/dance/boogie!

   Remember there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a Scanner. This is how you’re supposed to be.

   Video: Scanners are like dogs, not wolves

    

2. I’m a mess. Why can’t I be like other people? Why can’t I make up my mind? Am I really just afraid of hard work? I must be deficient. There’s so much pressure to limit myself to one interest. If only I could find The One Right Thing and stick with it forever!
   
   What do you think you should do for thought number 2?
   
   
   Show the hidden answer for thought number 2
   Stop looking, because you’re a multi-talented, highly curious, creative, adventurous, basically happy Scanner!
   Remember you’ve always been judged by people who don’t remember the past. They think that this recent valuing of specialization is the way it’s always been. When they see you, they don’t know what they’re looking at. When they judge you, they don’t know what they’re talking about. (That’s already changing, and you’re going to help change that perception even more!)

   Remember until the Cold War, the most admired and productive people in society were multi-talented polymaths: among them, Leonardo, of course, and also Aristotle (science, theater, philosophy, logic, physics, astronomy, psychology, and more), Goethe (poetry, drama, literature, philosophy, humanism, theology, painting, science), and Ben Franklin (science, business, journalism, politics, music, philosophy). So trust your natural receptiveness to the world around you, and enjoy yourself.

    

3. I’m scared! I’m jittery about time passing! I’m afraid there will never be time to do all the things I long to do. I can’t even figure out what to do first, so I end up doing nothing. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to do what I want to do.
   
   What do you think you should do for thought number 3?
   
   
   Show the hidden answer for thought number 3
   Make a 6-year calendar.
   Remember because you’re a Scanner, you live in the present (like everyone else is trying to do!). That’s why you have difficulty understanding how much time you have to do what love in coming years.

   Remember the 6-year Calendar, w/ 4 seasons in each year and a column of ‘What I want to do’ running down the left side. Did you schedule everything for every Saturday, next summer, alternate weekends, 2025 and 2016? If not, draw a small version right now if you haven’t done a big one yet. Just get it done in rough so you can see it.

   Remember you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. All you have to do is line up your interests (and leave space for new ones) and start doing them all.

   Video: Scanners and Calendars

    

4. I just can’t make a commitment. I’d feel like I was locked away in a prison and someone threw away the key!
   
   What do you think you should do for thought number 4?
   
   
   Show the hidden answer for thought number 4
   Commit to always living a life you love, not to a job or a place or a lifestyle.
   Remember the only lifetime commitment you ever need to make is to always move toward a life that suits who you are, no matter what career, job or interest is involved. When you know you’ve made that commitment, you can commit totally to anything for as long as it fulfills that primary commitment. Don’t do anything in half measure; that makes it boring. You won’t have to hold back when you understand you will not let yourself down.

   Remember you can choose many specialties. And commit to each one in turn; you can take any ‘Good Enough Job’ and use it to subsidize what you love to do on your own time; you can design your own career. And everything you love doesn’t have to be a career.

   Remember you can Learn something new, then Try it out, see how it works, improve it, and then you can Teach it to someone else (or write a manual!) and then, good Scanner, you can Leave.

    

5. My to do list is so packed I have no time to sleep, much less do something I love!
   
   What do you think you should do for thought number 5?
   
   
   Show the hidden answer for thought number 5
   Try a Micro Nervous Breakdown or a Setup
   Remember it’s not about time, it’s about fear. Try doing everything you do now without the stress. Just as an experiment, for a day or two. If that’s hard to do, it’s time for your Micro Nervous Breakdown. Let out the hurt.

   When you’re quieter, you’ll become conscious instead of ‘busy’ and suddenly time will appear. Right in the middle of everything else. You’ll wonder why it seemed so difficult before.

   Will that feeling last? Not at first. It’s an old habit. But that’s okay because you need to understand it as much as change it. So pay attention as the calm goes away and the frantic rushing begins again. don’t judge yourself, just watch how it works. Awareness is the first, most important step to take right now.

   Remember fear eats your time, and makes your judgment less reliable. You pile on more work just to prove you can.

   Remember to do only the parts of your favorite activities that you love the most. Then you’ll have time for them all.

   Remember Setups. Get everything you love to do ready, and then walk away. Now you can welcome impulse, whenever it happens. In the mood to write a few lines of your novel but you’re on your way out the door? Do it standing up for 5 minutes, and then be on your way.