Are You a Scanner Personality?

In this text, we would like to give you an overview of what these multi-talented individuals are all about, what challenges they may face, and what advantages they have.

Zu sehen ist: ein bunt angemaltes Gesicht

Scanner Personalities - the Multi-Talents

Scanner personalities – these multi-talented individuals have been around for a long time. People like Leonardo da Vinci, Hildegard von Bingen, Anna Maria van Schurmann, or Goethe are just a few representatives from a list of countless multi-talented role models, which also includes modern personalities like Barbra Streisand. Scanner personalities are multi-talents who have broad interests and many different hobbies. Goethe, for example, not only had a talent for literature but also pursued many other interests as a lawyer and natural scientist. He is not the only Scanner who lived out his multifaceted talents.

Scanners are often almost chronically curious and constantly try their hand at new fields and disciplines. Their versatility makes it easier for them to learn new jobs and skills and makes them potential all-rounders in their professional and everyday lives.

Test - Are You a Scanner Personality?

Are you a Scanner? If you are still unsure, you can find a video by Barbara Sher here. She has written several books about multi-talented individuals and also runs a YouTube channel. In this video, Barbara Sher talks about some characteristics of multi-talented Scanners and her personal experiences with multi-talents.

Do Too Many Talents Spoil Your Career?

Many Scanner personalities know this problem: There are so many interesting professions and jobs in the world, which one should I choose? Can I even decide without ignoring my diverse interests and thus my potential?

As Barbara Sher notes in her video, many Scanner personalities consider their multi-talented nature a problem. Their chronic curiosity and versatility make it difficult for them to stick with one thing for long. Scanners love to learn new things. They literally sniff out the opportunity to discover a new talent around every corner.

Many multi-talented individuals repeatedly face difficulties in the job market. While in the time of Goethe and Da Vinci there was something like a professional profile of a "universal scholar," today we need a classification into a specific job profile for every professional application. Scanner personalities therefore often believe they have to specialize. However, this decision is difficult for multi-talented individuals - because which of their countless interests should they pursue? Furthermore, they are often told that it is bad not to maximize their talents.

Consequently, many Scanner personalities try to suppress their diverse talents and "switch off" their own curiosity. What a shame - the world also needs curious generalists!

Are Multi-Talents Unprofessional?

No. Multi-talented Scanners don't necessarily have to make a decision and drop their talents. The first step towards personal fulfillment in a job and career is a clear awareness of one's own strengths: What comes naturally to me, where do my interests and talents lie? What am I good at? What are my interests and talents? What is easy for me?

Do you know what you are good at? Very good! Fortunately, the German job market is much friendlier towards multi-talented individuals than it was a few years ago. While a straight and linear resume used to be considered ideal, diverse talents and experience in several professions are more highly regarded today.

Living Out Many Talents in Your Career

How do Scanners live out their multi-talented nature in their careers? Flexible industries with time-limited project work are particularly well suited. This concept is now widespread in the working world and offers multi-talents with diverse interests the opportunity to deal with different topics one after the other. Part-time work can also be a good option for Scanner personalities to pursue other topics and activities in the remaining time.

For many Scanners, freelancing or self-employment is also an interesting option. In this case, you are free to decide what and how you use your diverse talents and abilities. Training courses on self-employment (for example, offered by the Employment Agency or on finding topics in a waldzeit Coaching with Kerstin) could therefore be interesting for multi-talented individuals. If you don't see yourself as a solopreneur, you can also team up with other people who want to become self-employed. Who could you imagine a business partnership with?

Multitalented Through High Sensitivity

Multitalented individuals often face a dilemma because they believe they cannot implement their innovative ideas and diverse interests and must choose one direction. They often also feel pressure from society: one should specialize, not pursue so many talents at once! However, it should not be forgotten: multi-talented nature can be a facet of high sensitivity, as Anne Heintze writes (more on this).

What is high sensitivity anyway? According to psychologist Elaine N. Aron, high sensitivity primarily means a high degree of sensitivity to subtle stimuli. In my childhood and youth, I therefore mainly associated the term with negative characteristics. "You are sensitive" sounded to me like "You are a wimp." Overcoming this insecurity can often take years.

You can read in this article that high sensitivity is not a deficit, but rather an advantage. Highly sensitive people often possess an exceptional interpersonal perception. This enables multi-talented individuals to experience things more intensely and thus gain innovative perspectives on their environment.

Success as a Scanner Personality

Scanner personalities are always curious. Their diverse interests enable them to have special perspectives and innovative solutions. Therefore, accepting yourself as a Scanner personality is a key to success. Even Da Vinci and Goethe needed time until they could realize their diverse interests. What supports Scanners is therefore self-confidence and self-organization. What do you currently want to prioritize?

Emilie Wapnick also identifies as a Scanner personality and introduced another term: Multipotentialite. In a TED Talk, she talks about why some of us don't have "one true calling" - and which strengths we can use especially well.

Emilie names 3 superpowers of Scanner personalities, aka Multipotentialites, aka Renaissance-Person, aka Polymath:

Idea synthesis

Rapid learning

Adaptability

With the many insights that Scanner personalities gain into the most diverse worlds, a special strength lies in their innovation: they can be highly sought after where innovative solutions for complex problems are needed. Since they can quickly familiarize themselves with new things, working with Scanner personalities saves valuable resources as long induction periods are not required. Their adaptability finally makes them team members usable in many different roles.

If you see yourself as a Scanner personality, only one question remains:

How do you want to use your superpower?

You don't necessarily have to decide on one of your many favorite topics. Instead, take a look at the "intersections," at the possible crossings of your topics. Where could valuable connections arise?

If you would like support from me with this, feel free to register here for a virtual tea talk with me (free, 20 min via Zoom).

It's not too late,