This is not a post where I am trying to convey a learning to you. It’s an assessment, a look into a situation where I don’t know yet how it will end or if I will like it.
I am currently juggling six different balls. Three are balls from the basket with the big label “WORK” and three are from the “PRIVATE” basket:
- Joining a new team
- Starting a new project with an extremely ambitious deadline
- Finishing two projects in my old team
- Figuring out where my next vacation should go
- This private thing
- This one big private thing
I suck at juggling. It doesn’t help that these balls are not equal in size - one of them is huge and I need both hands to keep it in the air.
How can I deal with that situation?
Tossing
This is not my first time having to keep multiple things running at the same time, but it has never been that many big things. When there are smaller things, it is easier - Because it is less scary to drop something. Refactoring a service? Sure, important, but dropping it will not have severe consequences. This time it is different. I cannot drop any of these or I am in deep, deep shit.
But I can throw one of the balls to somebody else. The thing is, I know that person will not like that. Not one bit. There will not be a graceful handover and it will cause issues. I will feel awful for doing it, but hopefully only for a while and then the guilt fades. Because the alternative does not work, I cannot keep it nor can I take my time. This is the one ball that I need to get rid of as soon as possible.
This means potentially losing trust from that person. On the other hand, I will likely lose that trust anyways if I do a poor job because I am doing too many things at the same time. Rationally speaking, my odds are better when tossing than keeping the ball.
Faking
Then there is one more ball that I need to treat differently. One where I can try to invest only a little effort, essentially “faking” to keep it in the air. Hopefully nobody will notice that it never leaves my hand and there are actually only five balls flying.
This will not work for a long time, but maybe two to three weeks - Long enough to get rid of the hot potato above. Writing about it feels like I am scheming something evil, but I really want to juggle that ball with care. Just not yet.
Prioritizing & Planning
For the others I can neither fake nor toss them. All I can do setting priorities and dividing my days and weeks in a way that gives each of the balls enough attention to keep it up.
And following a clear, structured process to not get confused - That is the last thing I need right now, creating more work for myself because I am confused and mix something up.
Breathing
Keeping the balls flying only works for a longer time if I don’t collapse. I need to remember breathing. Doing sports, listening to music, staring at the wall. Most of the time it works, but when something unexpected happens this is something that I usually forget too fast.
Like catching another ball by accident - Last week has been a really horrible example for this. While I made progress on all sides, I also got pulled into multiple long-running incidents. This took a lot of time and for the first three days of the week I was a little train wreck. Bad sleep, stiff neck, easily angered.
Luckily I got back into it on Thursday with a nice workout. This did a lot for me, but it needs to stay a regular routine, not something that happens every now and then. The same principle goes for sleep. Constantly working at night only makes me continue to think about my problems in my dreams. Not the time and place where I want that. It always sounds like a boring advice, but reading a book before sleeping or listening to calm music is amazing.
Winning?
Will this work out? I will know in a few months. Until then I will hopefully heed the advice I would give myself in this situation:
“Be clear on what matters and what doesn’t. These balls are important but if you can’t keep them all in the air, decide which one should drop first and which one last.”
Wish me luck (and nimble fingers)!