When I first started this blog, I talked about how my decision to leave graduate school early and not finish my PhD was partly motivated by my acceptance of the fact that I’m simply not a specialist. I came to this acceptance partly by reading a book by Barbara Sher entitled I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It. In the book, Sher classifies people as divers and scanners, or somewhere in between. I identified myself as a scanner with diving tendencies. In the comments of that original post, I was made aware that Barbara Sher wrote another book, specifically about scanners called Refuse to Choose! A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything You Love. I immediately knew I had to read it, so I headed out to my public library and grabbed a copy.

Before I talk about the book, I have a confession to make. I don’t normally read self-help books. In fact, outside of these two books, I can only think of one other self-help book beyond the personal finance realm that I have ever read. Continue reading →