Vol 3 Iss 6

Hope your Memorial Day celebration was healthy and happy. We took our third camping trip of the season to northern Colorado where we were snowed on Sunday night.

I’m excited to tell you that I received notice that my application for PCC (Professional Certified Coach) through the ICF (International Coach Federation) was approved. I'm now a PCC! Wooo Hooo!

This distinction is only achieved by a handful of coaches in the world. I checked the website and there are only about 20 in Colorado, and as you know, there are probably 30 times that many coaches in this great state.

I could never have applied if it weren’t for my wonderful clients. My thanks go to you for allowing me to be an encourager to your risk taking and a witness to your growth. My clients are the bravest smartest most amazing people on the planet. I feel very lucky to be a coach.

This month, I’m letting my article below do double duty. This is a piece I wrote for the Colorado Career Development Association’s newsletter which was published today, Monday, June 5. Since I got such a huge reaction from the article I wrote in April, 2004 about scanners, I thought it would be a treat to learn about a whole book about them.

To read my previous article, follow this link:

http://www.forwardmomentum.com/html/Vol1Iss9.htm

If you see yourself in this description, please give me a call or drop an e-mail. Scanners work best when they are supported by a non-judgmental person has only their best interest at heart. Hmmm. That sounds like a coach!

P. S. Thank you to those who responded to my survey from last month’s newsletter. The overwhelming majority voted to receive a newsletter every other week and I will certainly do that when I re-vamp my product line. Your comments were deeply appreciated. It’s an encouragement to me to know that I make a difference.

If you didn’t get a chance to complete the survey, it is still open for your feedback. Just follow this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=21582101378

It’s completely anonymous and it means so much to me to hear from you.

Refuse to Choose! A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love, Barbara Sher (2006) Rodale Books

Last month I bought some nice oak bookshelves from a local furniture store’s closeout sale. Gathering all my books in one place – creating a LIBRARY – was so cool. It gave me the opportunity to survey the history of my interests.

Two shelves were all about writing, linguistics and poetry (a love of words), another couple covered training, brain functioning and creativity. These were to be expected as I was a freelance writer for 10 years and a job search trainer for another 10. But that’s only four shelves out of 20. The rest were filled with other “projects” I had explored and tried and loved. Things like mythology, or collecting lace, or economics, or … well, the list goes on. What I discovered is that I am a Serial Scanner.

If you are as big a fan of Barbara Sher as I am, you won’t be disappointed with her newest undertaking, Refuse to Choose! A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love. In her loving, encouraging way, she gives permission to not lock yourself into a career, but to use the unique characteristics that make you who you are to create a fulfilling, if unconventional, life.

She has taken the concept of Scanners, first introduced in 1994 in I Could Do Everything I Want If I Only Knew What it Was, and expanded the definition to include every kind of scanner you can imagine. You will recognize a scanner: they are the clients that just can’t decide on a career. They are interested in everything and find it extremely difficult to choose only one field to pursue. Their families are frustrated and worried they will never settle down.

As Sher explains, “Intense curiosity about numerous unrelated subjects is one of the most basic characteristics of a Scanner. Scanners are endlessly inquisitive. In fact, Scanners often describe themselves as being hopelessly interested in everything (although as you’ll find out, this isn’t so). A Scanner doesn’t want to specialize in any of the things she loves, because that means giving up all the rest. Some even think that being an expert would be limiting and boring.”

The book is divided into two parts, the first focuses on the definition and acceptance of scanners and the second into identifying specific forms of scanner-hood. These include the major categories of Cyclical Scanner, Sequential Scanner and Serial Master. Each category is broken into more specific scanner types with. In typical Sher style, every chapter has tools and ideas galore to work with scanners, each one useful in its own right.

The most wonderful message that she imparts with her godmotherly smile, is that you have permission to be who you are. She helps the reader understand that this natural curiosity and unwillingness to hone in on one specialty is a strength, not a weakness, and then helps the reader to develop realistic coping mechanisms to deal with this amazing gift.

Scanner-hood is not an easy place. It gets expensive buying all those books. But it is endlessly interesting and productive in a unique unconventional way. And that’s OK.

September 14, 2006 - Panel on Baby Boomers Issues Around Retirement

More details to follow as they become available.

You are free to use material from Moving Forward! in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

"By Debra DeVilbiss, CPCC, of Forward Momentum, LLC. Please visit Debra's website at http://www.ForwardMomentum.com for additional articles and resources on creating your right livelihood."

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