Why the Hardest Part of Juggling is Throwing the Third Ball
Marketing work can be difficult. You obviously need the technical chops to design and build digital media in today's world. You still have to do or say something that warrants someone's attention. Not to mention, you still have to be able to tell a good story. But, perhaps the hardest part of marketing is you have to be willing to be wrong - to share a message that doesn't yield the impact you expected. Crickets. We don't like to be wrong. We hate looking stupid. In this post, I share some methods I use and advice I've been given to combat writer's (marketer's) block.
Have you ever learned to juggle?
After turning 30, I realized I couldn't go my whole life without learning how; so I gave it a shot. It took a couple hours to really get the hang of it, but thankfully I got some good advice from my friend, Jamie.
He told me the difficulty of juggling gets amplified when we try to throw the third ball. He said the easiest way to learn is to practice throwing only two balls a time. Throw the balls in a "1-2" rhythm, kind of like you're two stepping. Throw the ball from your left to your right hand and vice versa. Once your brain has this pattern stored, all you have to do is start the pattern again, this time just beginning it again before you catch the second ball. The hardest part is not focusing on the pattern. It's actually mustering up the courage to throw the third ball.
The fear of screwing up is real, even when it comes to silly circus tricks like juggling. Creating content is no different. The best way to learn to ship content you are proud of is to use a pattern that is simple and easy to understand. Anytime that fear of shipping content kicks in, I think of these two questions:
Who am I trying to reach?
How am I trying to change them?
These two questions immediately focus my attention from myself to my audience, which always seems to eliminate any reservations I might be feeling. Once I know the change I'm trying to make in these people, all that's left is to come up with a few ideas that might make that change. That fear you feel when deciding whether or not to speak up at that meeting, post your blog or finally create that ad for your business, all stems from a misplaced focus on yourself. Answer these two questions and then throw the third ball.