The first evidence of juggling, dates from approximately 2000 BC when female dancers throwing balls in the air are depicted on a tomb in ancient Egypt. Juggling then spreads to China, Europe, the Americas, and so evolves and entertains people all over the world.
We’re all jugglers today, metaphorically. If we were to have a tennis ball for each of the things we juggle, we’d do badly. Probably even the most skilled of jugglers would under-perform.
We all juggle two types of balls continuously:
- We juggle the activities in our daily lives: cooking dinner, sending that email, talking to that person, making lists of things to do, planning, etc
- Juggling thoughts that keep you up at night: “I wish I had more time to…”, “I feel guilty because…”, “I wish I could change…”, “One day I will do…”
How are you managing to juggle this many things all of the time? How much energy are you spending on juggling the thoughts and tasks that you “have” to juggle rather than focusing on what is really important to you?
There are two problems with juggling so many things all the time:
- Firstly, we get distracted from the goals we’ve set out to achieve, and that thing that is monumentally important to us and yet, more often than not, takes a back seat
- Secondly, if we don’t already know exactly what our goal is, we don’t even have time to realise it’s missing.
The Guardian published an interesting article about the top five regrets that people have when dying:
- I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
- I wish that I had let myself be happier
There’s nothing really surprising about what people wish they had done differently during their lives. And still, as simple as these reasons may be, we fail to see what they are and how to avoid being one of those people, postponing the important things or even regretting not having done them.
Tweet now: “Stop juggling everything & stick to what’s really important to you! www.ancaurdea.com/juggling @aNCAUrdea #coaching “
How can you stop juggling the unwanted balls?
What’s important to you in your life? What would you like to achieve? What would you like to be remembered for? Really think about this and make a list of things you want and a list of things you don’t want in your life. Immerse yourself into this exercise, list everything, from wanting to cook pierogi to stopping feeling sorry for something that happened ages ago. Then work through both lists, item by item, and ask yourself what you can do to cross off each one of the items. This will give focus to your thoughts and activities, it will disperse the balls you keep on juggling and it will energise you while you gain focus and perspective on what really matters to you. You will stop procrastinating, achieve more, become more structured and goal oriented. Would this be of value to you?
If you juggle too many balls and you would like to get focused, goal-oriented and more structured in your life, discover what you really want as opposed to what other people want from you, and learn to lead a balanced and fulfilling life, check out my Start from Scratch coaching package.
Read also “If I Had My Life to Live Over”, an inspiring poem by Nadine Stair (age 85).
