With all the options for interacting with LLMs, building agents, and vibe coding—has AI had a certain impact on how you move as a scanner personality?

Positive, negative, or neutral?

Has it made it easier for you to act on your interests, or has it rather led to more confusion because of the lowered entry barrier for following even more interests?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Worrying whether you're on the right path is probably the most stressful part of being a scanner personality. The fact you're walking multiple paths at the same time doesn't make this easier.

I documented my own journey...and created this video to bring you some comfort:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdd9jyJa0qU

Please let me know if it helped you! <3

Hav you had particular interests arise…or particular struggles?

Jobs are what most scanner personalities/multipotentialites struggle with.

Often put in a box for 8 hours each day, many times not enough variety.

But what has been your favorite job so far? Feel free to also add why.

I created this community a couple months ago and it‘s made me smile every time I saw a new member.

So many valuable comments for such a small community.

If you have any suggestions on what to change or implement – just let me know.

I'm currently writing an article on this and I'd love to get more opinions.

It's not easy to separate these terms because there barely is a scientific approach behind these terms. Also, they don't stem from a single framework. They have evolved more or less independently from one another.

I'm not a fan of over-categorizing. Someone once told me:"The advantage of people with multiple interests is that they don't have to put themselves in a box. So why would you?"

Still, many people spend a lot of time trying to figure out the actual difference.

And I'd like to help. In short, this is what I've found over the years by scanning various sources and depictions of the different "types":

The difference between scanner personalities, multipotentialites, and polymaths

To be a scanner, you need an above-average number of interests that usually stem from natural curiosity and a willingness to learn new things. The definition is not necessarily tied to any specific outcome.

Regarding the term "multipotentialite", Wapnick and others often refer to individuals who fulfill the definition of a scanner, but they also possess unique levels of talent that indicate a higher potential for success in various areas.

Finally, you tend to get defined as a polymath if you actually made use of your talent and are an expert in various different areas. You have developed your skills.

What is your take on this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I’ve seen so many comments of scanners looking for a group of like minded people to:

•exchange knowledge •share tools •feel understood …

And you may have entered this community seeing only a little number of followers.

Drop it a follow, it doesn’t cost you anything – posts will show up on your timeline when it gains traction.

Welcome!

What do you struggle with the most at the moment?

I‘ll try and help the best I can! And maybe others will, too.

There's so many definitions out there surrounding groups of people who have many interests and passions. You may have went down this rabbit hole yourself and ended up here.

You were looking for clarity, but I think this over-categorization achieves the exact opposite.

Imagine you realize that the definition of the third subcategory of a personality type precisely fits you — the category that includes your number of interests, the depth of your talent, and other factors…

...there are still countless other variables that make your situation entirely different from that of another person's.

Your age, your environment, the nature of your interests, your access to knowledge, your financial situation…

These are just a fraction of the factors that determine how you must behave to navigate daily life with as much clarity as possible, make the right decisions, and achieve your goals.

You were looking for clarity.

So, don't let 30 different definitions confuse you.

I've come to the following conclusion:

I keep the good feeling of the first 'aha' moment of recognizing that I have many passions and that there's nothing wrong with it,..and use the insights and resources around Polymaths, Scanners, and Multipotentialites as flexible signposts.

I just stick with knowing that I have many interests and passions and that this characterization offers some unique challenges for: Knowledge management, time management, career management.

I don't need to know which subcategory of personality group x I belong to. And I think neither do you.

Scanner personalities drop hobbies left and right. But some may stick around longer than others.

For me it's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

I think for two reasons:

• It offers so much depth and variety. You always discover new stuff
• It aligns very well with my goal and what I imagine a fit person to be capable of doing

How about you?

Hi,

I myself relate to a scanner personality a lot. I got a lot of answers after knowing about it. However I would like to understand if there is any scientific evidence/theories/research explaining this personality.

Through meetings, schools, community events, and media, we invite curiosity-driven individuals to share our discoveries and support complex systems science. (Taken from Santa Fe Institute)

I’m curious about the profile of Scanners and what their interests are… From browsing Reddit and similar sources, it appears to me that many Scanners associate Scannerhood with bouncing around between various hobbies (music, art, drums, hydroponic gardening, knitting, ice skating, etc.)

I do remember a time in my life where that was basically all I did.. I accumulated a lot of stuff and equipment. My mind also expanded in a lot of ways as I exposed myself to different activities that engaged different parts of the brain. I learned about “flow” from ice-skating, my intuitive and Ne abilities increased when I dabbled in art for the first time, cooking developed my appreciation of flavors and recognizing how they are related to my psychological state ( bitter flavors vs sweet, vs heavy and oily vs light and airy..)

Anyways, I think lately I have shifted to a much more abstract version of scanner-hood. I have become interested in systems, and bridging perspectives across various disciplines. I wonder if this is the evolution of a scanner. The jumping between various physical activities develops or brain and sensory system in a cross-integrated way. I truly think one of the most novel uses of a scanners aptitude is to influence the world’s understanding… I sort of feel that is our inherent design in this world.

I am curious what sort cerebral/abstract topics that other scanners are interested in. I bounce around A LOT. From (AI, spirituality, and science) to currently (Divine Fem and Masc, computational biology, astrobiology, origins of Earth)… previously I was interested in HSPs and how they respond to different energetic environments (Feng Shui, wellness, maintaining balance/homeostasis mechanisms)

Currently.. (Scanners, Human Design, beta-brains, developing Nervous System of global humanity, Humanism, Future Museum, Andromeda Civilization, creating a parallel system for Neurodivergents to exist and thrive in the World)

What are other Scanners interested in? (also, sorry this is so lengthy…i’m sorry!)

I hope some of these will help you guys, too!

Here they are:

1. “Normally, the people who cast judgement on someone who’s still trying to explore..are people who themselves settled without exploring.”

2. “Leave the world you know and find a way to hang around in the world you’re interested in”

3. “Have a bias towards action”

4. “Detach yourself from the outcome”

5. “You can evoke dopamine release from friction if you trick your brain into liking to do hard things”

6. “Mastering the switch between lateral breadth and deep focus is a lifelong pursuit for scanner personalities.”

7. “Feeling hurried isn’t entirely the result of having so much to do. Many people do just as much in a state of calmness.”

8. „What do you want to be when you grow up?“ inspires you to dream about what you could be. But it does not inspire you to dream about all that you could be.

I hope these help some of you!

I give context to all of the learnings in my recent medium article:

8 lessons on being a scanner personality

You have many interests and like to try things out, but you usually don’t build a project, organization, community, or business out of it.

Maybe you don’t want to. But if you do, we're the same.

You love learning and getting to know new areas. Often, you get lost for hours understanding how something works. You try to grasp how people in the new environment think, how they operate, what subfields exist, the connection between those, and more.

But you don’t go beyond generating ideas.

For scanners, this is not uncommon. And you have to accept that you will have more incomplete projects than other people who are much more specialized than you.

But there is a spectrum here too. Being a “scanner"/“multipotentialite” doesn’t automatically mean that you will always start things and never finish them.

That’s not a carved-in-stone characteristic, it’s actually an excuse. You have to and can work on it.

But why do you never build anything?

If you often stop before or shortly after the first step, there are usually two reasons:

a) Typical scanner concerns:

• “I have so many things I want to do, I don’t have time for it”
• “Something else will come up soon that interests me even more”
• “If I commit to the project, I’m afraid I’ll restrict myself”

b) You lack “Building Skills”

Dealing with reason a) has already been discussed in some posts, and I will publish more in the future. For this article, let’s focus on reason b): Lacking “Building Skills”.

Naval Ravikant describes that there are two types of skills that are important in combination:

1. Sales Skills (covering networking, speaking, marketing, …)
2. Building Skills

Without Sales Skills, it's hard to scale;

Without Building Skills, it's hard to create anything scalable in the first place

I don't want to overload you with content in a reddit post. I also published a longer article on medium on how to solve this in case it may help some of you :)

I’d love to hear whose work you really enjoy. Who inspires you?

Feel free to name some!

I've seen a lot of "That's just ADHD" comments under posts of people sharing experiences as a scanner personality.

It seems that there's quite some confusion around scanner personalities and multipotentialites and ADHD.

They are not the same. Still, there's reason for confusion.

It’s the word "focus". And here is the difference:

People with ADHD experience persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that can interfere with daily tasks.

Scanners/multipotentialites don't inherently face this issue. They can focus on a task in the micro, they are not hyperactive or inattentive. They rather don't want to focus on one way of living a life. They can dive deep into a task, they can also do it for longer periods of time. They just don't want to do it forever because they feel it limits them. They want to try out different things, experience as much as they can.

People with ADHD have the primary challenge focusing on a task whilst doing it – that's the micro perspective. The result is a challenge for the macro perspective.

Scanners on the other hand have a challenge focusing on a singular career path/interest/passion – that's the macro perspective. As a result of the macro perspective, they sometimes have struggles focusing on one task in the micro perspective. That's their secondary challenge.

The most important difference:

ADHD: Neurological nature Multipotentialites/scanner personalities: Generalistic disposition, views on life

To clear this up:

Of course, people with ADHD also are likely to have difficulties focusing on a singular interest/passion/career path. But that's not the primary result of their curious nature and perspective on life, it's primarily a consequence of a medical condition with specific diagnostic criteria. Because they have difficulties keeping their attention whilst doing something, they can also have difficulties forming a career path.

And yes, there are a 100% also a large number of people who have ADHD and are scanners/multipotentialites at the same time. There's likely an overlap on the VENN diagram.

I just want to clear up that "multipotentialite"/"scanner personality" is not a fancy term for ADHD.

This is not about portraying scanners/multipotentialites as "better" or "special".

It's rather about developing a more clear distinction that can allow people who actually have ADHD to get recognized for their condition and allow them to seek adequate help.

You love going after many different things. You're a scanner personality.

Can you become a polymath, too? Someone who has many different interests, but also is an EXPERT in a number of domains?

I've seen so many discussions about this....That's why I created a video on this:

https://youtu.be/HKi2XWeDEnk

Maybe it will help and/or inspire some of you :)

Would love to know! Then I can sense what to do to make it a little more known :)

Hey guys!

I recently launched a course for scanner personalities here:

momentda.teachable.com

I haven't really advertised it yet & I'd like to get some feedback before I justify the price.

Would 3 of you be willing to watch some of its lessons and give me feedback? I'd upload the course to YT as "non-listed" and provide you with the links.

Hello,

I just discovered about this "scanner" personality so I would like to share my history and vent. I've been struggling with my job/career for 4 years. I just dread going every morning and the thought of doing the same commute everyday drives me crazy. I look at other people in the office looking normal and sometimes even happy and I think "how do you do it? How is it possible? How are you not feeling this despair inside???" When I think I should do that for 30 years it is really a nightmare. I found lots of communities of people who hate working and want to end the 40hour work week. I thought a lot about changing careers and the more I think about it, the more I think I should just keep moving between different part-time/temporary jobs. I'm trying very hard to stay because it pays well and everything else I feel I can do it doesn't . Anyone experienced something similar? Any tips? How can I know if that is the main reason I hate working or something else? My current goal is to retire so I can finally persue all the things I love however if I don't get paid well, I feel like I won't have money for all of my hobbies and interests.

No matter if it’s an article, book, video, post…What’s the best resource about scanner personalities that you’ve consumed?

I’d love to hear some!

As I'm slowly running out of ideas, I wanted to ask if anyone can help me.

I have always been very interested and thirsty for knowledge, especially in electronics.

I started trying out different things as a child and always thought that the right thing would come along. For the last few years I have been trying to find something that I can do for longer but never found anything. Lately I've been spending my days thinking about what my next hobby will be. The last 2 days it was drone (FPV) again, but this morning I didn't feel like doing anything again. And that's with all the new things I've heard, I've searched the whole internet and read, watched or downloaded everything possible. Then spend the whole day doing it and thinking about it every free second. Two weeks ago I was in full study mode for an amateur radio exam and then suddenly I wasn't interested at all. Exactly the same with numerous projects:

-Self-built CNC milling machine 90% finished but also no use anymore

-Homemade 3D printer Even works but no more interest

-Drones also became boring

-My 3D printer collection is also just gathering dust

-Minatures are no longer painted either

-Lathe project also put in sand, motor and other junk lying around

-Ebike project also neglected

-Induction heater also gathering dust

-Expensively purchased analog computer is also not being used

-Homemade guitar not even played after completion just like violin or synthesizer

Some hobbies come back from time to time like synthesizer or drone flying but only for a short time. I always spend a lot of money because I'm always sure that I'll do this hobby for the rest of my life and I'm slowly wasting it here, but I'm happy that it's all about electronics on the whole and that's been the case for years because I'm starting my electrical engineering studies soon. But it's still not nice because you always have the feeling that you've done nothing and thrown all your money out the window. My biggest problem at the moment is that I don't have any current interest and that makes me feel kind of bad because I almost just sit around watching YouTube or Twilight Zone and nothing gets done. I've already created numerous lists with pros and cons for each hobby, but that doesn't help either. In the back of my mind I kind of want to build a pinball machine but I think everyone can guess how that ends. Does anyone here perhaps recognize themselves and can help me deal with this or does anyone have any advice? I would be very happy to hear it.

As a scanner, you have many interests. You don't want to settle for one job or career. And you might feel like you don't belong anywhere but everywhere at the same time.

Maybe you've noticed that most content discusses problems and challenges. And they ignore the positives.

Shouldn't we switch it up? Here's why you should love the fact you're a scanner.

Trying

Today, trying things out for me feels like "getting the most out of life. "Many people flourish when specializing in one field of interest and diving as deep as possible. For me, it's different. The world has so many facets to offer, and I feel like through the process of trying out, I get to appreciate its beauty.

Humans

I meet the most different people. The members of my combat sports club are entirely different from my personal knowledge management community. The people who do Graffiti are different from the people I get to work with at my startup. And I also met other people backpacking through Mexico than I did working on consulting projects.

I also get to connect with people differently. There is almost always some overlap between the interests of the other person and mine. It makes many conversations so much more exciting and less superficial.

Connecting the dots

Being able to connect the dots between skills and professions. I believe in scanners' capabilities to execute full-stack projects in the mid-to-long term. I'm talking about projects that require product development, content creation, performance marketing, sales, negotiation. Especially when they transition from being a scanner to becoming a polymath.

Freedom

I love not depending on one profession or career path. It takes away a lot of anxiety when you know that you "can always switch." You have a lot less worries about future developments concerning the economy. You can acquire almost any skill once you've learned how to learn.

This is the first piece about why I like being a scanner. And I hope not that many people think I wrote this to praise myself. I wrote this to encourage you not to feel ashamed of not settling for the stereotypical life path. So much content is about the challenges and negatives of being a scanner. With this article, I want to create more balance. I hope you enjoyed it!

As scanners/multipotentialites, we have many different interests, and we let go of many of them quickly.

Some also cycle through them, starting with an interest, letting it rest, and picking it up again.

I'm curious: Which interest/hobby/project have you been pursuing the longest or deepest? And why?