Refuse to Choose!

I’d just started Chapter 5 of Barbara Sher’s book, called Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams. And I was riveted, not least because it seemed to describe me right down to the ground.nnThe entire book was about what Barbara calls “Scanners”.nn“Scanners love to read and write, to fix and invent things, to design projects and business, to cook and sing, and to create the perfect dinner party. (You’ll notice I didn’t use the word “or”, because Scanners don’t love to do one thing or the other; they love them all.)” she writes on page 5.nnBasically, Scanners love exploring and learning, so they find it hard to do just one thing. As Barbara puts it, “‘I keep waiting for this deep voice to call down from heaven and tell me what I should do!’ But that voice isn’t coming, because there is no one passion so great that a Scanner can happily limit herself to it.”nnUh oh. We have always been told we should FOCUS. What’s more, in business, it is one of the cardinal rules of marketing, if you want to make it easy for yourself and attract the clients you want, to get clear on your target market and to niche. Not so easy for Scanners!nnBut Barbara lists 5 steps for Scanners, which, in fact, everyone of us can take and apply to ourselves and our work. They are:nn(1) Select your project and decide on your goalnWholeheartedly throw yourself into it. Decide exactly what your finished product will look like. Give it all the time and effort.nn(2) Schedule a date for a Real DeadlinenA Real Deadline is essentially a deadline that you can’t move. For example, if you want to create an audio program, schedule a date well in advance, for a tele-class that you will record and let people know about it. That way you’ll have to show up for the Real Deadline and you’ll get what you want to get done done.nn(3) Get to WorknImmerse yourself, dedicate yourself, focus on this work and put yourself first by doing so.nn(4) Attend your Real DeadlinenMake sure that your audience is appreciative - no critics allowed!nn(5) Bask in Your Own GlorynI get this. And I like it!nnSee how all of us can take that on board and apply it?nnAnd to that, I would add a sixth step.nn(6) Set up a system to continue to market that product and delegatenThis is especially important for anyone in their business. You must make sure that you do this. If you don’t, you’ll have launched the product and then nothing happens to sustain the life of the product and to reap the benefit of all those hours and effort invested in its creation. In the days when I used to have a thing - not a good thing! - about marketing, that’s exactly what I would do. I’d create something great, then move on to the next project. It didn’t occur to me to actually delegate the marketing to someone else; it could even have been someone whose sole job was to drive traffic to the website that I’d also created in support of that product.nnThis is certainly a step that is a must if you are pursuing multiple streams of income.nnThe other reason to delegate is so that it frees up your time to get into your next creative project PLUS it releases you to do the things that you are best at and that only you can do.nnMost business owners don’t delegate because they are afraid that the other person can’t do it as well as they can or they haven’t realized that their best focus is on those activities that bring a high return for them. The rest they must delegate so that the business continues to operate.nnFrom an energetic or vibrational perspective, you stay in your passion and keep your vibrational state high, and that comes back to you in great business results.nnWhat it also means is that we can have more than one niche - but we want to get one up and running and working first, before moving on to the next.nnAh, what a relief for those of us who are Scanners!nnYOUR TURNnnChoose one thing, set a deadline for it, announce that deadline to the world and then go for it, knowing that you’ll have the freedom to move onto the next thing…and remember to set up that marketing system for it too.