5 Surprising Benefits of Learning to Juggle and Why it Might Improve Your State of Mind
Learning to juggle has always been something I have wanted to. It wasn’t until watching fellow magician Steve Faulkner’s Daily facebook Lives where I finally got the motivation to learn.
Each day Steve gives an honest account of the day to day ups and downs peppered with personal development tips and models to help you throughout the lockdown - one such session Steve gave a basic lesson it was this lesson and his discussions on the importance of ‘flow’ (more on that later) that really got me interested.
With the inspiration and motivation from Steves Facebook Live, three pairs of rolled up socks and some further tuition in the form of a short video series How to Juggle by Mat Ricardo*, I began over the course of a week to actually begin to juggle!
*(Mat Ricardo is an incredible variety performer and juggler and I would highly recommend checking him out)
So here I wanted to share with you 5 surprising benefits I found so far in my short journey in learning to juggle.
Learning to Practice
There is a fun in just learning a new skill for the sake of learning it but I also found it a lesson in effective practice that can easily transend across learning any new skill.
The essential importance of getting the foundations right from the start instead of rushing ahead. I own 2 guitars, an electric piano and a harmonica can I play any of them well? Not really the problem has always been wanting to skip the ‘boring’ basics and head straight to the Clapton and McCartney solos but these foundations can’t be skipped. With juggling without the basics you can’t progress so you learn very quickly to get them right .
After a few hours of learning and understanding the basics with 1 and 2 balls adding a third just felt impossible, but after some time there was a beautiful moment when everything just seemed to click from complete unconscious incompetence to finally getting the hang go it and achieving conscious competence, still plenty of practice needed but the task now felt possible. Which leads us nicely to my next benefit.
2. Learning How to Fail & Enjoying it
I found a unexpected philosophical benefit from learning to juggle and this came right out of Lesson 1 with Mat Ricardo.
Its a surprisingly simple one.
Get used to dropping the ball , the art of learning how to fail , when you drop don’t think you can’t do something, or your have failed but instead feel good about your yourself that you are picking the ball up and are trying again - important for juggling and life. - Mat Ricardo
And Mat is so right! Failing successfully sounds strange and a contradiction in terms but kind of makes sense when you think about it, failure to success can often be the thing that stops us learning new things. Failure shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing to be avoided but rather as evidence for a need to adjust, change and embrace it.
This philosophy is much bigger than juggling if you take nothing else from this take away the philosophy of failing successfully, this approach is important for success in sports, business, and personal relationships.
3. Getting in the ‘Flow’
Flow is the mental state of being completely immersed in an activity. Athletes call it ‘getting in the zone’.
Flow theory suggests three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state and heres how its possible to use juggling as away to achieve this state:
One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. The goal for me simply is to juggle the 3 balls and not drop them, but it was progressive starting with one ball , two and eventually 3 balls.
The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. Much like above the task is clear, the feedback comes when I drop and an understanding of what to do to fix it.
One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and their own perceived skills. To begin with it felt impossible but I knew I could do it and everyday I could see an improvement which kept me moving forward
Flow Is naturally built in to learning to juggle. This for me has been the biggest benefit of learning to juggle for me. By picking up 3 balls and achieving a flow state through learning to juggle has allowed me to destress, refocus and reset. I am able to shut down the negative mind, forgetting the worries of everyday life and just be in that moment.
Again this applies outside of juggling but find yourself an activity that meets the above criteria and see the benefits to your mental wellbeing.
4. Cognitive Benefits
I have just mentioned the mental health benefits I have found from juggling but there are further cognitive benefits too, Sherrie Campbell, a clinical psychologist, says that juggling works wonders for our critical thinking skills.
“Juggling is a soothing, methodical, organized activity for the brain,” says Campbell. “This soothes, focuses and slows the brain down to look at and focus on small details and movements. These neuronal connections have proven to improve a person's thought process.”
Some studies have also suggested that juggling boosts brain development and increase in white matter in the brain. In the study all jugglers showed increase in white matter regardless of how well they could perform. It suggests that it’s the learning process itself that is important for brain development, not how good you are.
5. Social Benefits
I have already mentioned the philosophical, cognitve and mental health benefits but there are also many other personal and social benefits too. There is a buzz that can only come through learning a new skill or solving a puzzle, a certain sense of accomplishment and improved self esteem when it finally click but learning to juggle is also a journey of patients, persistence and resilience. Its a constant self analysis. Not only that but its a great party piece for social events!
So grab three pairs of rolled up socks and give juggling ago, get in the flow and improve your state of mind!