I continue to love gaining new insight about myself.
A great source of ideas often comes from statements Gretchen Rubin makes.
While I feel like I know many of her observations, this one was new to me:
“One thing that comes up in the workplace a lot is jugglers and aerialists. So, jugglers are people who like to have a lot of balls in the air, and they like to go from thing to thing very quickly. And then there are aerialists who like to do one thing, and then pause, and then swing to the next thing, and they’re very focused on this one task. I’m really an aerialist, and I’m sort of forced to be a juggler, in a sense of all the things that I’m doing. The more I understand about how different people are, the more able I am to have compassion for them and also compassion for myself.” – Gretchen Rubin, Big Think Interview
As I read this, I feel connected to her tendency.
I also feel like I’m an aerialist at heart. Yet, if I consider my daily life, I’m a juggler.
There are a lot of balls in the air and I’m moving quickly between things.
This makes me wonder if society promotes a juggler lifestyle.
Or is it something we choose?
Maybe I really am a juggler at heart, I just aspire to be an aerialist.
I like getting lots of things done and ending a day with things checked off my list.
Maybe the juggler approach ensures that happens.
The aerialist could be working on a single task for days.
I wonder what happens to the other tasks that need to be done when this happens.
I’m also struck with the thought from Faith Popcorn in my summary in a prior post.
She noted that women tend to be multi-taskers and men are more likely single-taskers.
Does this make more women natural jugglers and more men natural aerialists?
Your Turn
Do you think you are a juggler or an aerialist?
Was this easy to decide or did you take some time to figure this out?
When you think of others in your life (at work or at home), which category would they fall into?