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How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

ashleyjanssen.com

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Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#2
This isn't a bad metaphor altogether and I appreciate that the post advocates for one thing that all too many such ideas ignore: talking to people and asking them what matters to them. You can never know if your kid finds something truly important until you ask them and damaging your relationship with your family is never worth the marginal or even huge successes at work.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#5
The first thing to come to peace with is that no matter which ball you choose to let fall, it's gonna piss off someone and that someone is going to be very certain and very much in your face about the fact that from their point of view, you did the wrong thing. Get used to people telling you you're wrong.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#6
I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#7
post #3

Honestly this is stupid, if you want to have integrity the answer is to have less balls in the air.

Yeah this feel way overblown. Just do less. You probably don't need to try and juggle so many things.

That would make sense if you knew how hard things were going to be and if you could predict external responsibilities.

For example if I plan to meet a friend tomorrow, but tonight my child unexpectedly gets sick, I can call the friend and say, "Sorry my child got sick. How about next week?"

That might happen multiple weeks in a row, but eventually (assuming a patient friend) we'll get together and renew our connection. On the other hand, if I played it safe, and said, "I'm too busy for friendships now that I'm a parent," we would both have less friend-time.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#8
post #3

Honestly this is stupid, if you want to have integrity the answer is to have less balls in the air.

The metaphor is terrible, juggling balls of very different weights would already be nearly impossible. Trying to keep track of them so you know which ones you can drop is a much harder problem then just sticking to a number you can reliably juggle.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#9
post #8
post #3

Honestly this is stupid, if you want to have integrity the answer is to have less balls in the air.

The metaphor is terrible, juggling balls of very different weights would already be nearly impossible. Trying to keep track of them so you know which ones you can drop is a much harder problem then just sticking to a number you can reliably juggle.

Juggler here. Juggling balls of very different weights works. Our brain and bodies are amazing.

I watch a guy juggle a bowling ball, a machete and an apple. For a while I had my own Goodwill bowling ball for juggling.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#10
post #6

I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

Typically there are three throws per second. Communication latency to stakeholders is too low while juggling to achieve desired goal.
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