Barbara Sher (1935–2020)

I’ve had this book forever, but I’m glad to finally read it through a recent audiobook recording. I loved it as the author (RIP) really gets it, and even though the term “Scanner” isn’t a fave, I definitely am one in all its glory. This really got me thinking more about options and what I can do with my endless desire to learn more; it’s a bit outdated (sad considering it’s only sixteen years old) but still full of wonderful information and anecdotes for those of us who need it.

Finally! A book about people like me. I’ve spent my entire adult life thinking there was something wrong with me. If I could just find my main passion, the one thing I was going to be amazing at and be able to stick with, then I could be successful. Only it never happened. Occasionally I thought I found it, and my engagement would last a while - sometimes years - making me think this was it. But inevitably the excitement would fizzle, and I’d find myself completely engaged in something show more else. I’d start to think that maybe that was what I was meant to do… until I woke up one morning and found all my enthusiasm for that new sure thing completely gone. So what on earth was wrong with me?

According to Barbara Sher, absolutely nothing! (Imagine my relief!) I am apparently a “Scanner”, someone who loves “to read and write, to fix and invent things, to design projects and businesses, to cook and sing, and to create the perfect dinner party… To Scanners the world is like a big candy store full of fascinating opportunities, and all they want is to reach out and stuff their pockets.” Yes, that definitely sounds like me.

Barbara Sher then goes on to describe the various kinds of Scanners (apparently we’re not all the same), what makes them tick, how they get themselves into trouble, and what tools they can use to make the most of their abilities. She also talks at length about career choices for the various types of scanners, something that’s extremely important for those of us who feel like we can’t stick to anything long-term.

All in all, this is a fascinating book that opened my eyes to many things I didn’t realize about myself. show less

The new age-y title seems more like edgy spin for this nuts and bolts handbook for owning and realizing goals (wild dreams). First printed in the late 1970's, this 30th anniversary edition references quaint, dated practices like using a typewriter and researching at the library. But charming anachronisms do not dilute the potent, practical guidance Sher presents with humor and tested, step-by-step expertise. Over and over Sher's wisdom made me laugh as I realized how much that is served up show more as cutting-edge in coaching, menifesting, and hefty-price-tag online courses, has been around a LONG time.

The writing works. It's not brilliant prose, but it doesn't set out to be. Sher's engaging voice reads like a wise, patient, and compassionate aunt who KNOWS you're brilliant and won't let you give up your dream for lack of good counsel.

Chapters 1 & 2 build the rapport and trust. Beyond that I kept nodding and smiling as she shared her experiences and examples from students in her classes to illustrate each step of the wishcraft process. Instead of banning fear or complaining, Sher honors them as important tools for realizing great goals. The chapter "Barn-raising" is a brilliant study of the value of social capital.

A few lines that reeled me in:
"What I'm interested in is what you love. ... You may have a case of amnesia about it. That amnesia can be so total that you're not even sure anymore what you love." I've spent plenty of time there.

"All the people we call "geniuses" are men and women who somehow escaped having to put that curious, wondering child in themselves to sleep. Instead, they devoted their lives to equipping that child with the tools and skills it needed to do its playing on an adult level."

"Before you can get what you need, you've got to take responsibility for knowing what you need."

"Love your life. ... Be really happy at what you're doing. That's when you're irresistible ... you're cheerful, enthusiastic, and loving."

Instead of purging references to typing or pocket calendars from the original text, Sher simply includes her website www.barbarasher.com and BlogTalkRadio.com credit in her brief bio. show less

Where I got the book: my local library.

My name is Jane, and I . . . am a Scanner.

At last someone has put a name to what I tend to think of as my Low Boredom Threshold. My ability to get interested in a great many different things has resulted in a good many careers (some carried on simultaneously), far too many hours in higher ed. and a general feeling of frustration that I’ll never be able to get my life “together.” It wasn’t until I rather unexpectedly quit a job in 2009 (long show more story) and, instead of rushing to find another one, allowed myself a few weeks to think about what I really wanted, that it occurred to me the one thread that had always run through my jobs was writing. It was either what people hired me for or what they discovered I was good at after a short while on the job. “Jane, you are a writer,” I said to myself. And I was right! I’d finally discovered the activity that never got boring because there was always something new to write about and always something about writing to learn.

Barbara Sher gives the name Scanner to those of us who have multiple interests and don’t want to spend their lives working on one career. How we envy those who are engaged enough in their everyday jobs to stick with them, working their way up the career ladder to the merry tune of promotions and pay raises. We thought we’d finally found our niche, and here we are a year later, bored out of our skulls. What’s the solution?

Sher comes up with several. She tells us that we really can have it all, if we look at our lives the right way. Many of her suggestions for careers and productivity techniques suited to our particular needs are so mouthwatering I wanted to get started on all of them right away . . . heh . . . . Of course no guru can suggest a course of action that suits every reader perfectly, and I quickly found myself thinking about how to adapt one or two of her ideas to my own working methods. I made a list of the most likely techniques in my Daybook. I shall forever be grateful to Barbara Sher for the idea of a Daybook, which has become my go-to place to write down all those lists and brainstorming that kept invading my journal, to the point where I’d stopped journaling because it was annoying me. Now I can download all that stuff into my Daybook and maybe I can begin journaling again.

Sher identifies several different kinds of Scanner—I thought it was hilarious that every time I started a new chapter about a different kind of Scanner I thought “Oh hey, that’s so me.” Because we’ve got these brains that go in all sorts of different directions—mine never works quite the same from one day to the next. I’m finally learning to appreciate the value of being able to read about something, connect it to something else and come up with a completely new idea—now I just have to learn how to turn those ideas into something solid that I won’t get bored with. The way I describe it is that my brain fizzes—it seems to need new ideas like a whale needs plankton, and excretes them at high speed like—what, exactly, do whales poop out? On some days, that is, when I’m not so overwhelmed that the fog descends and I can barely get anything done.

Anyone who’s followed my reviews for a while will know that I generally get very snarky over self-help books but this one, I liked. I’m going to stick my neck out and give it five stars for being a self-help book that was actually worth my attention from cover to cover, even if I did find it a bit heavy on examples at times. It might even be worth re-reading at some point in the future. show less