I Learned How to Juggle Four Balls

In this challenge, I learned how to juggle four balls. I already learned the classic three ball juggling pattern (what most people think of when they think of juggling) when I was a teenager, so that is forever grooved into my brain like riding a bike. Learning to juggle four balls is a big jump in difficulty from learning to juggle three balls though. While you can learn to juggle three balls in possibly an hour or two, juggling four balls can take weeks or even months to learn. Juggling four balls is basically juggling two balls in each hand. Juggling two balls is fairly easy to learn for one hand at a time, but is difficult to coordinate for both hands at the same time. Juggling four balls can be done in both the synchronous (throwing with the left and right at the same time) and asynchronous (alternating throws between the left and right hands) patterns. I learned both of them and I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Here is the tutorial video that gave me the overview and instructions needed to accomplish this goal:

In the tutorial video the host explains that even numbered ball juggling is done in a "fountain" pattern where the balls do not cross hands. This means that the hand that is throwing is also catching that same ball. This is in contrast to odd numbered ball juggling which is done in a "cascade" pattern where the balls do cross from one hand to the other. Juggling four balls basically means juggling two balls in each hand at the same time. Learning to juggle two balls with one hand is relatively easy to learn, but coordinating both your left and right hands to juggle two at the same time is much more difficult.

The host recommends getting your two ball juggling down with both your left and right hand as a prerequisite. Two ball juggling is done in a relatively skinny oval pattern with the ball ideally not crossing the mid-line of your body and with the ball path shaped around the shoulder. She suggests getting one successful throw down, then two consecutive, then three, etc. to slowly build the skill of two ball juggling. I love that approach, as it breaks the project down into smaller, more manageable goals. She then applies that to four ball juggling by setting four throws and catches in the asynchronous pattern (with alternating hands) as the first goal to work towards. Then she recommends working your way to five, six, and so on as you keep beating your personal record and learning the skill incrementally. Then she recommends learning the synchronous pattern (both hands throwing and catching at the same time) in a similar fashion.

Using the information and advice from the tutorial video, I learned how to juggle four balls in a few weeks. At first just holding onto the four balls and trying to even imagine what to do next was a bizarre and foreign feeling. Successfully making those first few throws took lots of time. My muscles and brain didn't know what to do yet, so it was chaotic and awkward. The balls would go flying to the floor as I clumsily flailed and locked up in all of the wrong ways. If you want to see this learning process illustrated, I found a video of Youtuber Victor Fang sharing his journey of learning how to juggle four balls. Starting at 1:47 in the video you can see how he incrementally goes from clumsy newbie to an efficient and smooth juggling machine:

My learning process looked similar to Victor's. Sometimes throws would be too high, sometimes too low, sometimes they would hit the other balls, sometimes they would fly too far outwards, sometimes the catch was bobbled, and on and on. There are tons of ways I failed, but the body and mind get more and more efficient as they solve the problem of how to keep those balls aloft in the air.

I tried to keep breaking my personal record of consecutive throws to keep myself motivated and to make it more fun. Eventually I set a goal of hitting 50 consecutive throws with the synchronous pattern. I would count one by one as I completed reps. It took many, many attempts, always having to start my count over after whatever unpredictable error occurred and sent the balls crashing to the ground. I would zone out and just let my hands go on autopilot while my vision unfocused and blurred with the periphery. I would often have to consciously rein in balls that were starting to go too far outwards or too far inwards. Soon I hit my goal of 50 consecutive reps. And then I learned the asynchronous pattern. It was awkward once again at the beginning, but soon I figured out the rhythm of it. The asynchronous pattern was easier, and I felt comfortable with it in no time.

Once I could comfortably say that I could juggle four balls, it still took time to get to the point where I could do it successfully for a decent number of throws every single attempt. Even now I still make mistakes, but I can reliably pick the balls up and start juggling them. Here is a video of me showing off my three ball juggling skills (with some snowballs), the synchronous four ball pattern, and finally the asynchronous four ball pattern:

Learning to juggle is one of the best ways to achieve the addicting feeling of getting better at something. Juggling success is easy to measure: you either juggle the balls or drop the balls. The clarity of the goal and the immediate feedback you get allows you to iterate and learn quickly. You feel your neurons and body figuring it out bit by bit as you keep trying. You go from uncoordinated absolute chaos to organized and efficient with your movements until it's something as easy and natural as tying your shoes. It’s addictive to keep trying to hone your movements until a juggling skill is programmed into your brain. Juggling isn’t very tiring like a lot of physical skills so you can do rep after rep and really feel yourself improving quickly.

I have heard people say that juggling is a useless skill, but I disagree. I think it gives you finely honed hand eye coordination and reflexes. I have become amazing at catching things that fall out of the cabinets or food I drop. Stuff doesn’t hit the floor around me. And I don’t even think about it, it is like I’m a robot programmed to snatch stuff out of the air. I feel confident this lightning fast hand-eye coordination could transfer well to activities like sports, martial arts, and to other situations in life when you need to react fast and catch something.

Juggling may seem trivial. Unless you are a clown, why spend your precious time learning how to keep a frenzy of flying objects from falling to the ground? I think that learning to juggle is one of the best exercises you can do to watch yourself learn something. If you are interested in developing a growth mindset, juggling can unlock something in you that sees that you can change and improve through effort and persistence. You start your journey with an absolute mess, get more and more efficient and precise as your body and mind learn with each mistake, and end up with an amazing display of coordination. The journey of learning something like juggling four balls teaches you that complex skills can be acquired if you have the determination and patience to keep trying. Activities like juggling show us these lessons in small time frames with immediate feedback and with certainty (you either can juggle or you cannot) unlike a lot of skills in life that are harder to judge.

The next juggling skill I want to learn is juggling five balls, which apparently can take several months to learn. This may seem daunting and like a waste of time to a lot of people, but my experience learning to juggle four balls makes me feel like it will be a great way to energize my spirit. The clarity of the goal, the immediate feedback, and the sense of personal control of learning to juggle puts me in a flow state. It feels meditative. It is addictive. Juggling helps you with the meta skill of learning how to learn. Methodically breaking down a new juggling skill and patiently working on the discrete goals you set for yourself teaches you how to improve at something. I highly recommend learning juggling skills for the focused growth mindset that it encourages, and I'm excited to learn five ball juggling next.