Accomplishments and Rewards

This is yet another homework assignment from Barbara Sher to help discover more about what internally motivates me to pick up and drop activities, jobs, projects, and everything else. It's also another way to take time to appreciate the way my personal brain works and celebrate past accomplishments that I previously might have considered failures.

Here is a list of things I've done or accomplished and my personal reward gained from the activity:

Accomplishments
Learned Violin
Learned Cello
Learned Piano
Learned Guitar
Math Olympiad
MATHCOUNTS Best in High School
Chase Youth Award Nominee
High Jump Top Ten in School History
Long Jump Top Ten in School History
Air Force ROTC Scholar
JSHS Poster Presenter
Learned DOS
Learned Windows
Learned Linux
Built Countless Computers
Learned to Fix Computers
Discovered Why I'm on the Earth
Remote Access Apprentice
Math Minor
Chemistry Minor
Bachelors in Chemical Engineering
Masters in Electrical Engineering
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
Learned to Program
Wrote Lego Tank Video Game
Wrote Skylander Video Game
Learned to Build Electronics
Hiked Lone Peak
Hiked Mt. Olympus
Built a Website for Work
Designed a Model for Auto Auction Prices,
Used Model to Get a Good Deal on a New Car
Became a Manager at Work
Built a 3D Printer

Rewards
Self-Mastery, Music
Self-Mastery, Music
Self-Mastery, Music
Self-Mastery, Music
Self-Mastery, Success
Self-Mastery, Success
Self-Mastery, Science
Self-Mastery, Success
Self-Mastery, Success
Self-Mastery, Flying, Career
Science
Self-Mastery, Computers, Video Games
Self-Mastery, Computers
Self-Mastery, Computers
Self-Mastery, Computers, Building
Self-Mastery, Computers, Helping Others
Ethics
Self-Mastery,  Career
Self-Mastery
Self-Mastery
Self-Mastery, Science, Career
Self-Mastery, Science, Computers, Career
Self-Mastery, Career
Self-Mastery, Improve Utility, Career
Computers, Video Games, Family
Computers, Video Games, Family
Computers, Building
Self-Mastery, Fun
Self-Mastery, Fun
Improve Utility, Career
Improve Utility, Discover
Save Money
Improve Utility, Career
Discovery, Fun, Save Money, Building

This is a work in progress, but I've already learned a few things about myself. My long-term passions are computers, gaming, science, and flying. I'm definitely driven by my desire to be great at what I do, and I want others to recognize my accomplishments. When I'm satisfied with my level of recognition or mastery I tend to move on to something else unless, like video games, I find continual entertainment. I like to take on projects that provide utility and help others, and I also tend to make decisions to save money and based on what I think is right or ethical. While I enjoy music, it doesn't provide the same propulsion that I get from science and computing.

Finally, I realize that I like to gain knowledge for the purpose of creating things.

A Place for Utility and Fun

Embracing my true Scanner self I followed the homework suggested by Barbara and created my "Living Quarters Map." It's a hand-drawn floor-plan of my house in which I've circled projects that I've either completed, started or conceived. Completed projects are circled in green, unfinished projects in magenta, and projects living only in concept are circled in red.

This is not ALL of my projects. There was a whole list of brainstorms that I must have deleted from my phone because I thought I would never get to them. There are also many completed projects that I didn't think worth adding to the list, because I want to spend the time on another project.

I hope soon to add some pictures of completed projects as well as some concept drawings.

I'm a Scanner

This has been an exciting week for me. I read an online review of Barbara Sher's book, "Refuse to Choose!" Ever since I graduated with my Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, over a year now, I've been soul-searching and brainstorming on what I'm going to do next in my career. It's been one of the more frustrating experiences in my life. Not the short-term type of frustration that you know will come and go. It's the long-term type of frustration like a chronic illness where you wonder if you will ever be okay again.

The mental framework for my self-discovery went something like this:

1. Statistics have shown that people are happier when they work in professions that are aligned with their personal passion, ethics and morals.
2. I'm unhappy at work, so my current position or career is not in line with my life-long passion.
3. If I can discover the one thing that I'm truly passionate about then I can align my career and be work-happy again.

So I've spent the last year trying to find that one thing. That ... one ... thing.  
If only I could figure out my ONE true passion!

One year later, having considered hundreds of options, I came up empty handed. "There must be something wrong with me." I've had many discussions like this with trusted friends, most recently my wife, Jennyfer. "Nothing excites me so much that I want to do it forever. Am I depressed? I'm starting to feel depressed..." Funny as this may sound, I have often dismayed about the difficulty in choosing an avatar or picture to use in my online profiles, forums, blogs, email, etc. What one thing describes or defines me so much that it will be me representative picture to the world?! Well, I can't think of anything.

Luckily I'm not the only one who feels this way. Barbara Sher identified a class of individuals who can't happily confine themselves to a small range of interests, passions, hobbies or otherwise, and she coined the term "Scanners" to set them apart from the "Divers". For me this is a brand new discovery which has already lifted a great burden and catapulted me along my self-discovery process. The basic premise is that I don't have a single passion. I'm interested in many different things, and those things frequently change. And that's okay! 

The first thing Barabara recommends in her book is to create a "Scanner Daybook" to record "explorations."  She recommends a very formal physical book, something nice, to record the many varied ideas and interests that constantly come to mind. For me that's a problem because I hate to write. So instead I'm going to do this online, in the medium that I feel gives me a greater freedom of expression. This blog is going to be my Scanner Daybook. It's for me, but you're welcome to read.