Mapping the Go-To Mind

I’ve known for a long time now that I was different than most people. As a kid, I read the encylopedia for fun. I studied about everything, sports, science, mechanics, art, and later computers. I’ve learned to create web pages, market products, produce films and videos, remodel homes, build theater sets, write, hold efficient corporate meetings, play guitar, animate, and record and edit sound. I know why the sky is blue, how the doppler effect works, why hand addressed junkmail is more likely to be opened, why overcast days look so dull, and the most effective way to evict a tenant or fire an employee. I could go on, but I’m sure you get my point – I have a wide range of interests and knowledge.

Up until this past Tuesday, I didn’t know there was a name for people like me. I didn’t know that I’m genetically wired-up up in such a way that I couldn’t quit being interested in new things if I tried.

Fortunately, I married a very insightful woman who loves how I get excited and passionate about new things. She wanted to help me better understand myself so I can work with my natural inclinations rather than against them. She bought me the best present I could have ever hoped for.

I Refuse to Choose!

When I came home from work on Tuesday, a book was waiting on the chair in my office: Refuse to Choose! by Barbara Scher. As I read through the notes on the cover, and then the first few pages, I felt a rush of adrenaline as I identified with example after example of what the author calls the ‘Scanner’ personality. This woman was describing exactly how my mind works and why it’s so often out of sync with the rest of the world. She even described the Scanner type as a “Go-To” person – very ironic!

Do You Have a Go-To Mind?

Are you a scanner? Do you find yourself endlessly curious about new things? Do you start project after project in a rush of enthusiasm, but usually lose interest before you finish? Does the thought of choosing one career or focussing on one hobby freak you out and get you worried that you’ll pick the wrong thing and miss out on something good? Do you find the world so full of wonderful options that you just don’t know where to start?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions you might be a Scanner. If you’re like me, you said yes to them all and thought up a bunch of new ones. You could be the type of person who, at various times, has been called a renaissance man/woman, a well-rounded-person, a generalist, or a “Go-To Guy!”

The Scanner (Go-To) mind is wired differently than people who specialize easily. Scanners can’t specialize, it goes against their basic programming. Fighting it is like trying to force a left handed person to write with their right hand – no good will come of it.

I’ve been coming to understand some of these things about myself already. Lately I’ve been looking for strategies to work with these natural tendancies. But, deep in the back of my mind, I’ve always felt like a failure having to “work around” my weaknesses. Refuse to Choose! has brought into focus and named what I’ve been feeling for years. It has encouraged me not to see my Scanner traits as failures and it has provided a framework for understanding how these traits play out in many aspects of my life. With this understanding I can build new habits and strategies to improve my qualities of life and work.

So, What’s A Go-To Mind to Do?

If you are a Go-To person, or like my wife, you are married to one – GET THIS BOOK! I got so excited when I started reading that I decided to start a website devoted my explorations of this subject (a VERY Go-To Guy thing to do!) The site, www.Spheres-of-Interest.com, will go live in a month or so. Sign-up for the mailing list and I’ll send you an email when I get everything up and running.

Do you have a Go-To Mind? Drop me a note and let me know what you do to make the most of your passions and interests.

The Go-To Guy!