I just read the very interesting Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher (recommended to me by Paul Strobl of Confide Coaching). It’s about the types of people she calls “scanners” (as opposed to “divers”); people who would rather survey the whole horizon than go diving as deep as they can in one spot. She calls them scanners, I call them polymaths, but they’re very similar.

The copy I picked up at the library had the subtitle A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love. I thought this was a little odd, as I didn’t see why doing everything you love would be such a big challenge, aside from productivity issues. Like Nike said, just do it.

But when I looked it up on Amazon, I came across the alternate subtitle “Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams.” I found this much more intriguing, though perhaps overly ambitious. But it made me wonder if it was just a different subtitle, or a completely revised edition.

And now I’ve written yet another subtitle in my headline, so I’m not exactly helping. Anyway, my comments are based on the version I read.

The main thing I got out of this book was that it’s OK to be a scanner, it’s just how we’re wired and not something we should try to suppress, and in fact it’s a good thing. Which I already knew, of course, but it was nice to see a recognized life coach saying so and talking about her clients who have successfully pursued their diverse interests.

One example of how she shows that scanners are OK: the false stigma of quitting. Many scanners get very frustrated with themselves for not being able to finish what they set out to do. Barbara explains why this is not a sign of failure, but a sign of having goals that are achieved before a project appears to be done. When a bee gets nectar from a flower and then moves on to the next one, do you call it a quitter for not sticking around?

I especially like how she separately addresses all the different types of scanners. From her experiences with working with so many scanners, she’s found that they don’t all fit the same pattern. Instead, there are two broad groups – cyclical scanners, who keep returning to the same interests, and sequential scanners, who don’t. Then these groups are further broken down into nine types:

• Cyclical Scanners
  • The Double Agent
  • The Sybil
  • The Plate Spinner
• Sequential Scanners
  • The Serial Specialist
  • The Serial Master
  • The Jack-of-All-Trades
  • The Wanderer
  • The Sampler
  • The High-Speed Indecisive

She talks about the unique challenges of each type, and goes into practical methods for managing your time, staying focused, and doing what you want to do.

However, don’t assume you’ll fit neatly into one category. I identified myself as a combination of the Sybil, Serial Master, Jack-of-All-Trades, Wanderer, and Sampler, thereby spanning more than half the categories. Oh well, I guess I’m difficult.

Hats off to Barbara Sher for standing up for scanners. When the world demands that you choose a path, what is a scanner to do? Simple: refuse to choose!

As much as I want to continue my month-long posting fast that magically took me above 2,000 subscribers for the first time, I thought I’d better tell you about Marelisa Fabrega’s new ebook before the price goes up.

Currently priced at just $9.50 (that’s 5.76 cents per page for you value shoppers), I’m inclined to say “just go buy it – how can you go wrong with something by Marelisa at that price?” But perhaps I can manage a better introduction.

As long as I’ve known Marelisa, she’s been big on life lists, also known as bucket lists. You know, those 100 or so things you want to accomplish before you die, or the things you’d most regret not doing if you suddenly found you didn’t have long to live. She’s well known for her popular and high-ranking Squidoo lens on this topic, so who better to write an ebook about life lists?

And that’s what she’s done with How To Live Your Best Life – The Essential Guide for Creating and Achieving Your Life List. This ebook is designed to help you rekindle your adventurous spirit, figure out exactly what you want in each area of your life, break through falsely perceived limits, and thereby achieve your life list.

Do I have a life list? You betcha (though I lost the original version, and the current one exists only in my head). Here are some items I’ve recently added to it:

• Complete all 100 levels on Wii Tanks (seemed impossible, until I did it in a lucky outlier run lasting nearly two hours, with 10 lives to spare)
• Run a marathon in under 5 hours (seems impossible at this point, but who knows?)
• Write ten novels (one down, nine to go)
• Create a steady income stream from playing poker (just started reading books and playing at the lowest limits)
• Have lunch at every restaurant in the vicinity of my workplace (every day is a field trip for me and my lunch buddy)

This ebook is both inspirational and practical, so different people may get different things out of it. Since I prefer to follow my impulses and let my life list unfold naturally, I especially liked the stories and lessons from both average Joes and famous people. Those who prefer a more organized and systematic approach will appreciate the exercises and instructions where she walks you through the process of creating your life list and starting to cross off the items.

I’ve included an abridged version of the table of contents below, so you can see at a glance how much Marelisa has managed to pack into this guide. If you’re serious about achieving your life goals, read How To Live Your Best Life!

Introduction

Part VII: What Are You Waiting For? Get Going
Chapter Twenty-Five: Keep a Journal of Your Journey
Chapter Twenty-Six: Your Victory List
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ithaca