Juggling Elephants: An Easier Way to Get Your Most Important Things Done--Now! [Hardcover]

Jones Loflin (Author), Todd Musig (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 6, 2007

What do you do when your life feels as busy as a three-ring circus?

Juggling Elephants tells a simple but profound story about one man with a universal problem. Mark has too much to do, too many priorities, too much stress, and too little time.

As he struggles to balance his many responsibilities without cracking under the pressure, Mark takes a break to attend the circus with his family. There he has a surprising conversation with a wise ringmaster. He leaves with a simple but powerful lesson: Trying to get everything done is like juggling elephants -- impossible.

So Mark begins to think about his work, family, and personal life the way a ringmaster thinks about the many acts in a three-ring circus. He discovers that managing his various acts can be fun and easy once he changes his attitude and follows his new friend?s ongoing guidance. Mark soon realizes:
? If you keep trying to juggle elephants, no one, including you, will be thrilled with your performance.
? A ringmaster cannot be in all three rings at once.
? The key to the success of a circus is having quality acts in all three rings.
? Intermission is an essential part of any good circus.

Juggling Elephants is a wonderfully lighthearted guide for everyone who feels like they?re about to be squashed. It will help you better focus your time and energy, so you?ll be able to enjoy more of the things that are important to you. Above all, it will teach you how to run your circus, instead of letting the circus run you.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fun parable written by corporate trainers Loflin and Musig, the hero, Mark, gets more than just an afternoon of family time out of a visit to the circus with his daughter—he gets a new way of organizing his life. Using the extended metaphor of the three-ring circus, this short volume is written as a dialogue between Mark and his ringmaster mentor, who teaches him how to better coordinate the activities happening in each ring. Readers who take themselves too seriously might have trouble getting past the large print, circus illustrations and a dialogue style more commonly found in children's books. But the book passes along several circus maxims that easily translate to balancing professional and personal relationships as well as one's personal pursuits, such as the ringmaster cannot be in all three rings at once and the key to the success of the circus is having quality acts in all three rings. While the advice is not new, the presentation helps it stick in your head, increasing the odds of keeping your act together. (Sept. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A very useful, lighthearted way to balance the most important things in your work and life’s circus.”
—Spencer Johnson, M.D., author of Who Moved My Cheese?

“If your life is so hectic it feels like a three-ring circus, read this book. It will teach you how to set priorities, relax, and enjoy the show!”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and The On-Time, On-Target Manager

“Juggling Elephants is a fresh approach to becoming the master of your life. The authors show how to take control of your own personal circus, identify and master your priorities, become more productive and thus achieve greater results in all of your endeavors.”
—Hyrum Smith, cofounder of FranklinCovey and CEO of Galileo Initiative --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (September 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591841712
• ISBN-13: 978-1591841715
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting Your Act Together September 6, 2007

By Miranda N. Brothers

Format:Hardcover

With a heartwarming approach to the all too common problem of how to manage a hectic life, Jones Loflin and Todd Musig have successfully collaborated to present a workable solution in their easy to digest and retain, Juggling Elephants. Recognizing that sometimes life is like a circus, the authors offer the memorable story of Mark who, using the three ring circus analogy, rediscovers his family, free time, and in the end, himself, again.
This gem, with its rejuvenating story, likable characters, and attractive presentation, culminate in, what I am sure will be, a much respected and well utilized tool across both the professional and personal realms and adopted as a "must read" throughout the business spectrum.
Kudos to Loflin and Musig for their creative solution and efforts to help others succeed in life.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Ever think your life is a 3 ring circus? Here is a way to become your own ringmaster. September 15, 2007

By Craig Matteson HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

I think that these kinds of business parables sell well to a certain audience because the images are so easy to remember and are fun to visualize. It doesn't matter that they always seem to follow a the pattern of someone being out of control in some aspect of the business, their life, or whatever and they meet some mysterious stranger who gives them the KEY that solves their problem and gets their life back in order.

This story is about a man whose daughter comes to him with her life in disarray. She can't manage her work life, her family life, and her personal life. He talks with her about how going to the circus with her helped him with the same problem. We often refer to something in a crazy and disordered state as a three-ring circus. However, a circus is really a very ordered system of acts. This is often NOT true of our lives.

The title of the book refers to the situation when we are out of control. Trying to juggle elephants doesn't help anyone. You can't do it, the elephants aren't having any fun, and the audience isn't enjoying an act going nowhere. So, Victor, a ringmaster Mark (the dad) happens to meet guides him through the steps of becoming the ring master of his life and the three rings being Work, Family, and Self. The ideas presented are really quite good and the images are memorable. If you are already in complete control of your life, you probably don't need this book. However, most of us could use some time thinking about these issues and this is a pretty painless to entertaining way of considering what it takes to get the right acts on stage when.

A simple, helpful little book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT for Busy Moms! September 27, 2007

By merinda Charles

Format:Hardcover

How I wish I could have read this book 20 years ago! But as they say "It's never too late!" Organizing your life into "circus rings" is easy to do when you think of it like that - and especially if you live with some clowns :) This is an easy-read and a wonderful book for busy women who need to visualize our lives into small, manageable pieces that put our priorities in order and bring peace and contentment in today's crazy and out-of-control world!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually, 3.5 Stars September 6, 2007

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Jones Loflin and Todd Musig assert (and I agree) that with regard to achieving and then maintaining "balance" in one's life, the objective should not be to balance everything; rather, to balance only what is most important. Theirs is a modern fable about a situation in which Mark, the protagonist, struggles without much success in three areas: his career, his relationships (as husband, father, colleague, and friend), and his personal development (e.g. he is overweight, has no recreation). Then one day, he reluctantly takes his wife and daughter to a circus, engages in a conversation with an off-duty ringmaster (Victor) from another circus, and then....

The extended metaphor (i.e. life is a circus) is very clever. It creates all manner of opportunities to correlate components of a circus with counterparts in one's career and personal life (i.e. the need for preparation, order and structure, division of labor, mutual trust and respect, effective supervision and coordination, timing, proper execution, teamwork, and yes, balance). The narrative (or plot) introduces the main characters, explains the situation, introduces conflicts that create tension and engage the reader's interest, and proceeds from one development to the next until the climax occurs.

I realize that comparisons and contrasts are sometimes unfair but, that said, Aesop and Jean de La Fontaine, then George Orwell and E.B. White, have demonstrated how effectively a fable can dramatize wisdom that is both eternal and universal. More recently, Stephen Denning and Patrick Lencioni have written fables that extend that tradition within the contemporary business world. Together, classic and contemporary fabulists have set the standards by which Loflin and Musig should be measured.... That said, I think they offer a clever extended metaphor but fall short as storytellers. The dialogue sometimes seems contrived, there are awkward transitions from one development to the next, and the human characters resemble stick figures. Re the last point, soon after reading the book, I could not remember any of the characters' names. Hence my rating: Five Stars for the core concept and Two Stars for the didactic and frequently lifeless presentation of it. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book for Newly Promoted Managers/Supervisors January 31, 2008

By Jason G.

Format:Hardcover

It is true that the style and metaphors of this book may be basic for a lot of people, especially if you have been in a leadership position for a while. I have found it useful to help educate new leaders on the importance of establishing a work/life balance early on in their new endeavours before they burn themselves out. I've seen many of them devote far too many hours to the first few weeks on the job, only to fail because they aren't given enough tools to be successful. Given the lack of management talent in many industries, there's a never ending search for anything to assist those who have never led before. This book gives a clear cut and simple way to determine what should and should not be on your radar and plate to increase one's productivity--both personally and professionally.

The HR world does a very good job of talking about the importance of having a work/life balance, however there's not much to start people off in the right direction. New leaders need all the guidance and assistance they can get, and this book helps them sharpen their focus, decide their priorities, and engage their teams. There's not a leader out there that cannot benefit from the sage advice offered in the book to "constantly offer positive reinforcement for good behavior" as it's one of the top reasons people leave their jobs. Getting knowledge and skills on how to improve that recognition is almost worth reading the book alone.