TMENEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE/PART 2

The Itµportance 0 "

By John Grossmann

ETE KING'S CO-WORKERS

three Day-Glo yellow tennis balls popping into

view, one by one, above the six-foot-high interior
ARE
used to it by now, but it's stiU an arresting sight: Being Plavful
wall of his office at the Chesapeake and Poto-
mac Telephone Companies in Washington, D.C.
Mr. King, the company's district staff man-
ager and assistant secretary, is juggling. Arter a
brief warm-up, he generally works a ball behind
his back or under his leg. When he is really cook-
ing, he"1.lstep up close to the wall and juggle the
balls on the reboUnd, his hands drumming
To learn how to juggle,
the air, his mind ~bolted from
some problem on his desk. "I'm
most inclined to reach for the ba.lls
you have to drop the balls.
when my mind is ;getting jumbled, \.
when I don't know what to do next."
be says, adding that after a brisk
jUggling interlU<Je he invariably finds managerial skill. Juggling is the balls but on throwing
he has "worked thµtgs through." • really wonderful metaphor them. If you can throw them
For much the same reason, Tom Jen- for that. to the same place every time,
kins, a corporate. conswtant 00 em-
"Juggling also improves juggling is easy. Most people
ployee training. also pmlCtuates his work
hand-eye coordination. It·s get so caught up in grasping
one or the few activities that for results that they discoor-
with Juggling breaks. "I find it energizing,
balance the two sides of the dinate their bodies and inter-
a good way to get both sides of the brain body. Once you've learned it, fere with the juggling. Think
working." says Mr. Jenkins. "It's a tremen- juggling is actually very about It. How often, espe-
dous productivity enbanc:er. The more relaxing. But it's not col- cially in business, do people
work I have to do, the more I juggle. If I'm lapsed relaxation. To do It get caught up in results and
really pressed on a deadline, I may take a well you've got to find the ap- fail to learn."
break every hour." Mr. Jenkins tosses plastic propriate level of effort."
clubs, because he finds it, more demanding To learn how to juggle, Mr.
than working with balls and therefore more en- Gelb explains, you have to
grossing. "Juggling helps me to concentrate,"
drop the ba1Is. In other
words, you can succeed only
he says. "I fmd it helps me to subconsciously
by failing and by learning
work through my mental blocks." from your mistakes. "The
Both Mr. King and Mr. Jenkins were coached paradox or learning to jug-
in the merits of juggling by Michael Gelb, the 34- gle," he says, "is that you've
year-old founder and director ()f the High Per- got to focus not on catching
formance Learning Center .. baSed in Washing.,
ton, D.C. Mr. Gelb, who once juggled onstage bE--
tore a Rolling StOnes conce~ otters juggling
lessons as part of hi;; three-dily'workshops on
such things as memory sldlls, inlnd mappiD&
and stress managemerit,~ "Every es-'
ecutive I know has got mo~ balls, in th!! air, sO to
speak, than he or she can handle," .he, says.
"Learning to remain calm aDd ~edtn the
overload is aD "e$Sential
face of information
f
..
-' "
_' .,
.
,