Have you ever heard of the saying: know which balls are glass and plastic so you know which you can drop? This is going to change the way you manage overwhelm & your endless life tasks.
The analogy goes a little something like this:
Envision all the tasks and obligations in every area of your life.
Dishes.
Laundry.
Making meals.
Date nights with your partner.
Showing up for work.
Your morning walks.
Taking care of your animals.
We all know the list goes on and is virtually endless.
What plastic balls are: these are tasks that you can drop and they can ALWAYS be picked up later. It isn’t detrimental to your day to day life if it’s not done immediately. The outcome is usually a “natural consequence”.
Example: if you don’t do today’s laundry, the worst consequence is your outfit won’t be washed if you wanted to rewear it tomorrow.
What glass balls are: if you drop these balls, these are typically more extreme/ harsh consequences if they do not get done.
Example: feeding your children or animals. This is a ball you cannot drop or there are substantial consequences.
I want you to assign each task in your life if it’s a plastic ball or a glass ball.
Maybe in your season of life, your “laundry ball” is that washed & dried is a “glass ball”, and folded is a “plastic ball”.
Maybe in your season of life, your “meal ball” is that everyone needs to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a “glass ball”, but maybe every meal being home cooked is a “plastic ball”.
The lesson when going through this is we realize how much pressure and expectation we put on ourselves to do everything in a short window each and every day.
We may all have the same 24 hours each day, but we all have wildly different capacities, support, needs, dependants, and obligations!
Which balls are you going to let drop?