Lessons about work and life turn up in the most unsuspecting places.

As some of you know, I am trying to learn how to juggle. It seems silly, really, but my goal is to be able to add it to my work/life balance presentations. What better visual of how hard it really is to juggle our lives than to try juggling some balls!

So I haven’t been practicing as much as I should but I have been asking around for a Juggling Coach. Yes, I put that intention out there and the universe answered in an unbelievable way. Last week, I started training a group of awesome women entrepreneurs from South Africa and took my juggling balls with me to see if any of them knew how to juggle and could teach me. No such luck. HOWEVER, as we were leaving a late-night reception around 8:00 pm, we came upon the UMBC Juggling Club, one of many juggling clubs in the area. Who knew!? I was actually ready to continue walking by when my fellow ACTiVATE instructor Renee Lewis (standing next to me in the photo below) pulled me over to them. “You’re not missing this opportunity.” Thank goodness for friends.

We spent the next 45 minutes with a couple of student members of the juggling club as they, well, taught us to juggle. In that brief training session I learned some important lessons not only about mastering the art of juggling but also about life and work:

1. Relax. Don’t try so hard. Just let it happen.

How many times do we take ourselves and whatever crisis we’re reacting to at the moment too seriously? There is a difference between working hard and struggling. I don’t think it is supposed to be a struggle if you’re in the right place pursuing the right things.

2. Slow down. Take the time to find the rhythm and work into it.

Not unlike #1, but distinct in important ways. So often we get going so fast because we think everything is a race. If we can learn to plan a little bit better, we don’t have to live in last-minute mode. I should learn to take my own advice on this one.

3. You will mess up. Accept it and get over it. Oh, and try not to hurt anyone.

Failure is a given when you’re trying something new or big. Be OK with that. I know I’ve said it a million times, if you’re not failing you’re not taking enough risks. Just make sure you learn from it and move on without taking anyone else out along the way.

4. Get bigger balls.

Really! The balls I was trying to learn with were too small. I’ve ordered a set of heavier ones and I’ll let you know how that goes. As for the life and business lessons, I’m going to be careful here because this could get ugly. My point here is that even though it seems like it would be harder to juggle larger objects it is actually easier when you’re training your muscles to remember the motion. You can’t be afraid of what you think might be harder because in reality, it might be just what you need to continue moving forward.

So the bottom line on this for me: be careful what you put out there in the universe – you might just meet a crazy band of jugglers and learn something unexpected! Oh, and the Juggling Club is in the UMBC Commons every Wednesday night from 8:00 - 10:00 pm. They claim that they can teach anyone to juggle if they really want to. Anyone want to join me??