Here's the latest:
http://davincidilemma.com
Looks very useful. Checking it out now.
http://davincidilemma.com
Looks very useful. Checking it out now.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Great Careers for Scanners!! A bestseller in 90 minutes!
With the help of some wonderful, clever people, this is my first new Kindle books since "Thinking Through Refuse to Choose" came out over 2 years ago. And the sweet part is that it's a bestseller! It was right away - within 90 minutes of going up on amazon.com last night.
My warmest thanks to all who bought it so quickly! If you're not yet one of them, allow me to introduce you to a new Scanner Career book.
If you're someone with many talents and interests who loves to learn new things, who loves discovery and variety, and gets a big kick out of solving problems, then I bet you are probably also someone who get painfully bored working at a job where there's nothing left to learn.
That's bad. Because, first, you learn fast. Few jobs can keep up with you when it comes to providing new things to learn. And second, boredom to you isn't a slight discomfort, it's agony. It's like Kryptonite to Superman: deadly.
That creates a problem, because you need to eat and pay rent like everyone else, and finding the right career has probably been very discouraging.
This book is the beginning of a new effort on my part to change that.
I think I know you. In fact, I’m one of you. I call us ‘Scanners.’ Some people call us
Polymaths or Renaissance people, or TMA (Too Many Aptitudes) or just multi-talented. We're a big problem for career counselors because we have a hard time choosing one specialty, and we know it.
Way back in 1994 I first wrote about people like us in my NY Times bestseller, I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was. Chapter 6 was called 'I want so many things, I'm all over the map.' It was only one of many chapters, each one about a different problem, but when I looked at the letters from readers that started flooding in (and still haven't stopped) I noticed that the majority of them were about that chapter.
I got the hint. It took years of researching and running retreats and workshops, working with hundreds of people and interviewing hundreds more - even doing a 2-hour public TV pledge special called 'Refuse to Choose!' - but in 2005 my book about people like us came out: Refuse to Choose.
The first email I got on the day the book was on bookstore shelves said this (from memory, but it's unforgettable and I'm sure I've got it right): "Dear Barbara. I'm sitting in my car in the Barnes & Noble parking lot in [Los Angeles] reading your new book. I'm crying. I'm a guy. I don't cry."
(I'm not a guy so I started crying as soon as I read his words.)
"A huge burden just fell off my shoulders. I'm not broken! I'm just a different kind of thinker!" I got hundreds of emails like that. You can find a lot of them over on amazon.com right now. It's a good book. I'm proud of it and people love it.
So why did I want to write another book for people like us? Because, although I had dozens of career suggestions in Refuse to Choose, I knew there were a whole lot of great jobs out there in the big world that I hadn't yet heard about.
So I asked all the Scanners I know (many of them on the Scanner community made up of the facebook groups mentioned in the post before this one). "Hey!" I said. "Tell me! What was the best job you ever had?”
The response was fabulous! I asked more questions, got more information and could see that we need to get the word out to everyone! The stories were so unexpected. They’ll get your thinking out of a rut right away. And I decided to share them right away, in short, easy-to-read online books at very low cost (how's 99c?).
Last night we published the very first one. I think it will get your creative juices flowing and give you some great ideas. And if you have questions (like, how do I get a job like that?!) you can talk to the people who told me about them!
If you just need a bit of inspiration to find work that will be a joy for you, this is a great place to start!
"It's like carrying an Idea Party around on my Kindle!' said one fan.
I hope you buy the book, and if you enjoy what you read, I'd love you to go over to amazon and leave a brief but glowing review. It will make the contributors feel great. It will make everyone who helped get the book up and running great. And it would make the big smile on my face even bigger.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Medieval Trades
Looking for good pictures for the new Facebook page: Great Careers for Scanners. Here are some I've found online that I'm fond of. Don't know if they're in the public domain, however.
SCANNERS ONLINE! THE NEW FACEBOOK COMMUNITY!!!
Some remarkable things have been going on for Scanners lately. And everything that happens makes this Scanner community (and Mutual Admiration Society) warmer, funnier and more helpful.
For instance, someone just discovered a French village for sale - cheap - with old buildings for artists studios and living quarters, and it's making everyone's mouth water. What's keeping us from jumping totally off this cliff to certain demise are the restoration costs - something like 20 million euros or dollars or something none of us have or be able to imagine.
But you can see the impulse.
So I'm changing this post around. If you're a Scanner, the first place you should come is to a -- well, to four or five Facebook groups full of Scanners in full play mode! It's wonderful. Be prepared to get no more work done the day you look these folks up:
You can start with the Facebook page of my book (I always think of it as your book, because I wrote it for you), Refuse To Choose: https://www.facebook.com/RefuseToChoose/
I'd go there first because I posted something you may have read already but still need reminding of. Take a look. I've pinned it to the top so you'll find it.
Then, if you're a Scanner who makes things and you wish you had someone to show them to - someone who wouldn't give you a hard time because you're doing something new again! you should go to this very lovable group someone requested I open: Scanners, Look What I Just Made! https://www.facebook.com/groups/196971620653609/
How about the things that you're *going* to do? The ones you might like to talk about, and get some cheers and encouragement for, kind of like in your Scanner Daybook, but with human support? I know we all need that, so what could I do? I opened another Facebook group called Scanners, Look What I'm Going to Do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1676570485934576/
One of the members of that group has been plowing her way through a book of writing prompts and everyone is cheering her on, as excited as she is as she gets close to her target: 100 prompts. That's where you go when you want people who know what you're doing, and who care about you, to help be the wind beneath your wings.
Then a lot of people started worrying about careers. What can a Scanner do that he or she won't be bored with in no time at all? I knew some answers, and put a whole bunch of them in Refuse to Choose, but I wanted to know what Scanners had to say. Who would know better what jobs wouldn't drive a Scanner crazy. So I set up another Facebook group where I could ask! Great Careers for Scanners! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1692037641082321/
And that was amazing! It was so amazing that I decided to put together an eBook with 20 great careers for Scanners and it's coming out next week! A kindle book. Just look up my name and you'll find it. (Haven't got the title tied down yet.) As soon as it's published, I'll come back here and bring the link.
Whew.
So you'd think I was finished, but this is addictive. It's a little confusing to go to all those new pages but when you want something special - like to show what you've made, or to get some help creating something, or to find a job that won't fill you with despair - you don't want to go fishing through comments, you need a dedicated Facebook page with the right gang already there!
Everyone was starting to see that, and when one of my brilliant coach training grads suggested maybe the best Facebook group for Scanners of all, I told her to go ahead and create it. Wait til you see this one! Scanners, look what I didn't finish (or even start)! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1147463201955058/
This page is more fun than a bucket of ants! Here's where you come to laugh at yourself, and realize you're surrounded with lots of people who are just like you. The commiserating is hilarious, and the blame and shame are washing out to sea, never to be seen again. Head over and enjoy yourself.
So I thought I was through. And then somebody said "Why don't we share our 'Rewards?' Our 'Nectar?' That's what I'd like to know about my fellow Scanners! And then, just tonight, somebody said something so moving and important to Scanners - maybe to everybody - that there was no way to survive it except to put up yet another group. And it's also about Scanner Rewards and Nectar! So I couldn't help it. I'm in love with this one. Big time:
Why I love doing this thing https://www.facebook.com/groups/815126418591544/
And that is what has happened to us Scanners on Facebook! I am blown away. And I'm moving all the other stuff that used to be here to another post because this is really all the fun one person can splash around in at one time.
I didn't even bother to tell you about all the 'old' Scanner pages. They're great - general, about everything if you prefer that kind of group and they've been here for a very long time, especially this one, where you'll find things you won't find anywhere else:
Scanner Tribe Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/88437140171/
And also Scanners & Renaissance Souls: https://www.facebook.com/groups/45588180550/
And all together it's just grand. It's a warm, friendly, helpful community you can drop into any time, day or night (someone's always awake and looking) and find other multi-talented people who get you because they're like you: interested in lots of things, creative, adventurous and kind-hearted.
Can't do much better than that.
Go take a look. :-)
For instance, someone just discovered a French village for sale - cheap - with old buildings for artists studios and living quarters, and it's making everyone's mouth water. What's keeping us from jumping totally off this cliff to certain demise are the restoration costs - something like 20 million euros or dollars or something none of us have or be able to imagine.
But you can see the impulse.
So I'm changing this post around. If you're a Scanner, the first place you should come is to a -- well, to four or five Facebook groups full of Scanners in full play mode! It's wonderful. Be prepared to get no more work done the day you look these folks up:
You can start with the Facebook page of my book (I always think of it as your book, because I wrote it for you), Refuse To Choose: https://www.facebook.com/RefuseToChoose/
I'd go there first because I posted something you may have read already but still need reminding of. Take a look. I've pinned it to the top so you'll find it.
Then, if you're a Scanner who makes things and you wish you had someone to show them to - someone who wouldn't give you a hard time because you're doing something new again! you should go to this very lovable group someone requested I open: Scanners, Look What I Just Made! https://www.facebook.com/groups/196971620653609/
To my astonishment, it caught fire! Within a few days 1000 enthusiastic people had signed up! And many of them were saying that is was the best place for them on Facebook, and they felt they'd finally found their tribe!
Scanners feel like they've come home on this page. It's not just a great place to see (and show) gorgeous paintings, drawings, photos - and to hear original songs, and wonderful stories about creating new things. It's more than that. Our need to share our enthusiasm with others shows up when we're little kids and it never goes away. It's painful to keep all our favorite things to ourselves to avoid criticism. Praise makes us brave. It makes us know we're seen.
A man took a photo of himself with his wheelbarrow full of freshly picked vegetables he'd grown in his garden, not sure if that counted but posting his photo anyway, and he was roundly cheered. (If planting and doing the work of growing vegetables isn't creative, I'd like to know what is?!)
Scanners feel like they've come home on this page. It's not just a great place to see (and show) gorgeous paintings, drawings, photos - and to hear original songs, and wonderful stories about creating new things. It's more than that. Our need to share our enthusiasm with others shows up when we're little kids and it never goes away. It's painful to keep all our favorite things to ourselves to avoid criticism. Praise makes us brave. It makes us know we're seen.
A man took a photo of himself with his wheelbarrow full of freshly picked vegetables he'd grown in his garden, not sure if that counted but posting his photo anyway, and he was roundly cheered. (If planting and doing the work of growing vegetables isn't creative, I'd like to know what is?!)
Then some new headings started showing up in that group that make it even more fascinating to visit: "Scanners! Look What I Just Learned!" and "Scanners! Look What I Just Found!" and I think there will soon be this one: "Scanners! Steal This Idea!" coming from Scanners who have more ideas than they can possibly use. So you'll find lots of vitamins here for the well-being of every Scanner.
How about the things that you're *going* to do? The ones you might like to talk about, and get some cheers and encouragement for, kind of like in your Scanner Daybook, but with human support? I know we all need that, so what could I do? I opened another Facebook group called Scanners, Look What I'm Going to Do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1676570485934576/
One of the members of that group has been plowing her way through a book of writing prompts and everyone is cheering her on, as excited as she is as she gets close to her target: 100 prompts. That's where you go when you want people who know what you're doing, and who care about you, to help be the wind beneath your wings.
Then a lot of people started worrying about careers. What can a Scanner do that he or she won't be bored with in no time at all? I knew some answers, and put a whole bunch of them in Refuse to Choose, but I wanted to know what Scanners had to say. Who would know better what jobs wouldn't drive a Scanner crazy. So I set up another Facebook group where I could ask! Great Careers for Scanners! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1692037641082321/
And that was amazing! It was so amazing that I decided to put together an eBook with 20 great careers for Scanners and it's coming out next week! A kindle book. Just look up my name and you'll find it. (Haven't got the title tied down yet.) As soon as it's published, I'll come back here and bring the link.
Whew.
So you'd think I was finished, but this is addictive. It's a little confusing to go to all those new pages but when you want something special - like to show what you've made, or to get some help creating something, or to find a job that won't fill you with despair - you don't want to go fishing through comments, you need a dedicated Facebook page with the right gang already there!
Everyone was starting to see that, and when one of my brilliant coach training grads suggested maybe the best Facebook group for Scanners of all, I told her to go ahead and create it. Wait til you see this one! Scanners, look what I didn't finish (or even start)! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1147463201955058/
This page is more fun than a bucket of ants! Here's where you come to laugh at yourself, and realize you're surrounded with lots of people who are just like you. The commiserating is hilarious, and the blame and shame are washing out to sea, never to be seen again. Head over and enjoy yourself.
So I thought I was through. And then somebody said "Why don't we share our 'Rewards?' Our 'Nectar?' That's what I'd like to know about my fellow Scanners! And then, just tonight, somebody said something so moving and important to Scanners - maybe to everybody - that there was no way to survive it except to put up yet another group. And it's also about Scanner Rewards and Nectar! So I couldn't help it. I'm in love with this one. Big time:
Why I love doing this thing https://www.facebook.com/groups/815126418591544/
And that is what has happened to us Scanners on Facebook! I am blown away. And I'm moving all the other stuff that used to be here to another post because this is really all the fun one person can splash around in at one time.
I didn't even bother to tell you about all the 'old' Scanner pages. They're great - general, about everything if you prefer that kind of group and they've been here for a very long time, especially this one, where you'll find things you won't find anywhere else:
Scanner Tribe Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/88437140171/
And also Scanners & Renaissance Souls: https://www.facebook.com/groups/45588180550/
And all together it's just grand. It's a warm, friendly, helpful community you can drop into any time, day or night (someone's always awake and looking) and find other multi-talented people who get you because they're like you: interested in lots of things, creative, adventurous and kind-hearted.
Can't do much better than that.
Go take a look. :-)
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