I recently wrote on some reasons you should juggle and thought I would upload a quick video of 3-ball juggling.

Enjoy.

Happy Friday.

I learned the basics of 3-ball juggling when I was about 13. I’m pretty sure my grandmother signed out an old VHS on learning how to juggle from the local library in hopes to keep my brothers and I occupied. Well it worked. I’m fairly certain any one of us could pick up and juggle 3-balls in a pinch.

I always had an interest in juggling growing up but never really had the time to spend on it with school sports, activities, and what not. I always made sure I didn’t lose the basics though. Since the end of summer however, I have spent a good amount of time mastering 3-ball juggling. Perfecting the basics, learning new tricks, and pleasantly enjoying it. The more I do it the more I realize what a great activity it really is.

So if you’re looking for a new skill to learn, I encourage you to consider juggling. In my opinion, here are the six big reasons why you should try it.

1. Juggling Keeps You Fit

Anyone who argues with this statement has never really juggled. Juggling is an aerobic exercise. One that is not expensive to do, doesn’t require a lot of equipment, and is very portable.

Don’t have time to run to the gym on your lunch break? No problem, pack your bean bags in your backpack, purse, briefcase, or whatever and take 20-30 minutes at lunch in a corner somewhere. You don’t need a lot of room either.

Plus: the better you get at it, the more of an exercise it will become.

2. Juggling Makes You Smarter

No joke. Juggling has been shown to increase the grey matter in the brain (See journal article here). So not only are you getting a great core exercise, you are also exercising your mind.

I feel smarter already.

3. Juggling Relieves Stress

It is extremely hard to think of anything else but juggling when you are juggling. It is an excellent way to clear your head of everything that is going on and get absorbed in the activity. It is an excellent positive outlet to expend negative energy and frustration.

You can’t help but smile when you are juggling.

4. Juggling Improves Concentration, Coordination and Range of Motion

You can’t just toss 3 balls in the air and hope for the best. It takes a lot of focus, concentration and problem solving. Recovering your rhythm after a mid-air collision or a dropped ball takes a lot of concentration. This focus you gain from juggling will be noticed in other areas of your life and work.

Coordination is very important for overall health. It helps avoid trips and falls, helps with core exercises and avoiding awkward situations. If you are a good athlete you will likely be able to pick up juggling quicker than non-athletes, and the main reason for this is coordination. However, even if you are the most awkward and uncoordinated person in the world, you will still be able to learn to juggle, and it will be an excellent way to improve your coordination.

When you begin to learn how to juggle, you will need to reach, crouch, bend and grab in ways you didn’t think were possible. Like any new activity, you will be sore at first since it is using body mechanics that you do not normally use. You will experience an increase in range of motion in your arms and shoulders.

5. Juggling is a Great Replacement Activity

Juggling can be used as a great replacement activity for breaking bad habits, overcoming cravings, and much more. Are you one of the many people who eats when they are bored? Try juggling instead. The same goes for overcoming cravings to smoke if you are trying to quit.

As a warning, unfortunately, juggling is also an excellent way to procrastinate from studying and working. Consider yourself warned.

6. Juggling is Cool

Juggling is fun and entertaining.

It is an excellent ice breaker and conversation starter and lets face it we all love watching someone juggle.

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Have any experience with juggling? I would love to hear.

Good luck!

Although this call was mainly focusing on the business-related applications of strategic relationships, it got me thinking about how people form relationships and friendships in general.

Everyone has many levels and layers of best friends, friends, associates, personal contacts, business contacts, etc. and whether or not we think about it, every time we meet a new person we form opinions about them and unconsciously place them in one of our layers and categories. People typically drift from level to level, and unfortunately we lose touch with many, but there are also many people that we should likely be keeping a little closer – but for whatever reason we don’t.

The thing that got me thinking is the amount of people that actually consider how they choose their friends and who they keep close and at a distance. Most people don’t put much thought into it, and it definitely has its effect. The people that are the closest to us have an enormous influence on our lives and it is important to understand that this influence can be both positive and negative. If you are struggling and finding yourself not as happy as you should be, try to surround yourself in people that have a positive influence on you. This may not always include your current circle of friends so it may mean you need to reach out to old friends, new acquaintances, etc.

Fortunately, I consider myself quite lucky in the sense that I have what I believe to be an excellent group of close friends on which I can rely. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be very close with a large number of people – which makes it even more important to make sure you are keeping the right people close to you. After some thought I have come up with some of the things I find extremely important in developing a close friendship and relationship.

Honesty.

It is important for someone to be able to tell you when you are out of line, or call you out on something that they disagree with. Praise from someone who is also willing to challenge you, is worth much more than If someone only ever agrees with you.

Respect.

I think this one goes without saying. Being brutally honest without being respectful can hurt. It is important that they show respect and are able to be critical, but constructive.

Dependability.

If you were in a crisis, whether personally, professionally, or emotionally and reached out to a friend to get together for a chat over dinner would they make time for you?

I’m not saying that it has to happen all the time, or that you even need to spend a lot of time together, but are they willing to make time for you when you need it? Or do they only ever seem to appear when it is convenient for them?

Motivating.

I’m sure you have experienced people that make you feel motivated or inspired when you are around them. For whatever reason, they have an aura that makes you want to strive to be the best. These are the people in particular that you want surrounding you, but are unfortunately harder to find.

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Losing touch sucks. I’ll be the first to admit that I have lost touch with many great friends that I wish I could have kept closer. I know with a relocation coming up there will likely be more shifting of people from layer to layer which is I guess why I started to think of it. If you’re reading this and have lost touch please feel free to contact me or email me to say hi and let me know what you have been up to. I would love to catch up.

Thoughts and comments are always welcome and encouraged.

So here is a 5-step process that will allow you to be deemed an expert in any field within 6 months.

Start a business.

Pick a name and register a business. A sole proprietorship will do the trick, you won’t need anything too expensive or over the top – for under $100 you can register your own business online. Register a domain name to go along with it and put up a static company website with contact information for the time being.

This gives you the professional aura that you’ll need and instantly gives you some credibility. You aren’t just another freelancer in the industry that’s there one day and gone the next. This will give your clients some peace of mind.

Lots of reading and blogging.

After you have your business registered and a website on the go get very familiar with the industry and start your own blog. Become comfortable critiquing current events and giving your opinions and recommendations on things. Keep your blog semi-professional and avoid any negative posts unless they are constructive – don’t complain for the sake of complaining unless you can suggest how to fix it. Some things to write about may include current events and trends in the industry, your take and perception on certain things, or some personal tips and tricks.

Remember not to over-do it, but don’t under-do it either. Don’t let your blog go stagnant, but a new blog post every day can be exhausting. Try for one every 5 days, or once a week.

This gives clients the perception that you are confident and you know what you are talking about – and hopefully by this time it’s the truth.

Freebee or discounted work.

Now that you seem to have the aura and the knowledge to tackle some work go out and find some. You may initially need to offer your services for free or at a discounted rate until you’ve proven yourself.

Let me reiterate that – until you’ve proven yourself. I’m not recommending you undercut the industry and charge prices that you can barely live off of. I mean for the first one or two projects you do offer a highly discounted rate or work for free but explain that this isn’t your typical rate. Your objective after all is to be able to charge a premium as being an industry expert.

This gives you a bit of experience and a portfolio to show off to future clients and on your website.

Present to whoever will listen

Where and how you present will depend on what you’re doing, but now that you have written some short articles, and done some work in the industry, contact some local colleges, universities, high schools, industry groups, media, etc. and offer to present . Create a 15-20 minutes presentation on something you feel is important to learn or know in your industry and ask to present it to students, the media, etc.

This will add to your experiences and credibility in the eyes of both future clients as well as others in the industry. By this time you are beginning to look like an industry expert.

Volunteer and Mentor

Now that you have that expert aura, people will likely start contacting you for advice and help. Take on a couple volunteer roles in your industry – help out with others starting their own business or partner with complimentary services. Mentor students in training in the same industry.

These students won’t forget the help you’ve given them. Your reputation in the industry will reflect the fact that you’ve helped out.

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You are now branded as an expert. This process can typically be done in 6 months if given proper attention. If you are a student, you can start the process while still in school in order to hit the ground running after graduation. Note I haven’t mentioned anything about formal education in this process. Of course a formal university or college education helps but if you can prove yourself in the industry without it, your reputation and experiences will ultimately be worth the most.

As always, I encourage any thoughts or feedback you may have.

Don’t listen to them.

If you’ve already done it, it probably won’t take you long to realize how quickly that passion disappears.

I’m not saying don’t be passionate about your work, or don’t start up a job around something you’re good at and enjoy doing. There are great benefits to loving your work, especially if it involves a 40 hour per week commitment.

What I am saying is that if you decide to start a small business to supplement your income, don’t turn your passion into that business.

For example:

You love kayaking, and are good at it. You do it almost year round to relax and escape. It’s something you can count on being there to make you feel good and relieve any stress you may have. Naturally, when you’re debating on what type of small business to start, the first thing that pops into your head is something involving kayaking. Not only that, but when you ask the local small business center, they even recommend it as a good idea.

Avoid this temptation. There are a couple reasons I say this. Firstly, you are narrow minded when it comes to running your passion-business. It doesn’t matter what the market research shows, or what people tell you; because it’s your passion, you will always think there’s a need for the product or service you’re offering, even when it might not be worth your time. If there’s only enough customer base to break even, or worse lose some money – back the hell up. Remember that the goal of this small business was to supplement your income, not to show people that you’re a good kayaker. Lets be honest, they don’t care.

Secondly, – and I think more importantly – you’ll lose your passion. You’ve now associated the one thing that gives you total relaxation and allows you to escape all your stress, with work. Oops, that sucks. I guarantee you it won’t take long before you become unmotivated with the business, and even start to become frustrated with kayaking in general. Even if you do manage to continue to enjoy kayaking, every time you hit the sea in your kayak, you’ll be thinking about all the things that “need” to be done. It will no longer be an escape. Now you’re stuck without a passion – that is, something you love doing outside of work.

It’s important not to lose focus on the reason you are starting the small business – to supplement (and perhaps replace?) your income. Do something that makes money. Don’t destroy your passion.

More to come on how to pick a good small business idea in a future post.

I have a few tips that I’ve found helpful for balancing the three.

Separate email. Use a different email for work, school, and personal. This can easily be done by using your school’s email address for school, your work email for work, and picking up a gmail account for personal use. Also, check these separately or you’re defeating the point of having them separate. If you’re setting aside a day to study, don’t be tempted to check your work or personal email. Your midterm is your first priority that day, mom and the boss can wait.

Don’t use your room to study or work. Your room is your sanctuary, use it for personal reasons only – a place to sleep, unwind, read for pleasure, have sex, listen to music, etc. Don’t bring work or school into your room. This is extremely hard for most people, especially students who have their desk set up in their rooms. Lets be honest, grabbing that Advanced Physics book and trying to study for your midterm while laying in bed will not only prove unsuccessful, but it will also take away from the quality of your sleep. The same goes for working long hours on the desk beside your bed, and then trying to roll into bed and fall asleep, you’ve created a work atmosphere in your room that’s going to take away from the quality of your sleep.

Lastly, take 5 minutes the night before and identify the three most important tasks for the next day. It doesn’t matter if they are personal, work, or school related, just write these tasks down on a small piece of paper. Circle the most important task – the one that if you got nothing else done that day except that task you would feel you had a successful day. Make this task the first thing you do when you wake up. It could be calling regarding apartment rentals, writing your ethics paper, or taking care of an important customer inquiry.

These are just a few things to help with the separation. I’ve been very much following Timothy Ferriss on lifestyle design, and I recommend both his book and blog to those who are looking at becoming a little more effective and efficient.

I’m young and finishing University. I don’t have a debt (other than that life-long, trip-a-year debt to my parents to pay them back). My money (what money?) isn’t tied up in the volatile market. I don’t have dependents that are tying me to a certain location or time.

Essentially the only influences on me are the positive ones I love and choose to be there.

So with resume in hand and opportunity in mind I wrap up my final term at Dal and get ready for next year. To all other students out there in the same situation: Don’t listen to the media. Don’t sweat the economy, it’s an opportunity for you.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was out kayaking, thinking it had to be at least 5+ years. I must admit that the workout I got from kayaking was one I hadn’t experienced in quite some time.

We left in the early morning after renting a kayak from East Coast Outfitters, a kayaking company based in Halifax and Mahone Bay. We made a pit stop for lunch and a swim before continuing to Bella. The paddle out took around four hours. Once on Bella, we fought with the mosquitoes to pitch our tent and enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day on the beach. Many boaters came and went as it seemed to be a popular spot for an afternoon and evening dip. After the sun went down we decided to paddle out to a neighbouring island – that in hindsight with the weather might not have been the best idea. The paddle out took us about 40 minutes with a strong head wind, and when we arrived there soaking wet, we decided to quickly head back. Luckily the paddle back only took about 15.

That night, we were forced to surrender our fire pit to the mosquitoes as they forced us into our tent early. On a side note, I did grow up in the country and have become somewhat used to the disturbing amounts of black flies and mosquitoes we can get in the late spring and early summer, but this was like nothing I’ve experienced before.

Our trip finished early as we left the island after we managed to pack the kayaks up. We took a different route home through Indian point, stopping once for breakfast.

The trip was a lot of fun, and if anyone was thinking of getting in some sea kayaking before the end of the summer, I would recommend checking out East Coast Outfitters for some great kayak rentals, lessons and more.