I learned how to juggle 15 years ago. I remember relentlessly practicing in my room late into the night. Within a week, I was comfortably juggling three balls.

Recently, I stumbled across YouTube video of someone juggling four balls and was very impressed. How much more difficult is juggling four balls than three, I thought to myself.

So, I watched this YouTube tutorial and his pre-requisites to juggling four balls are:

• Juggle three balls for 1 minute
• Juggle two balls in each hand for 30 seconds

In my mind, juggling two balls felt like a step backwards. So, I dismissed his prerequisites.

I picked up four tennis balls and after 15 minutes of getting nowhere, I grew increasingly frustrated. My years of juggling three balls did not, in fact, make juggling four balls any easier. According to this video, it takes this much time to be able to juggle. Here’s what should be expected:

• 3 Balls – Days to Weeks
• 4 Balls – Weeks to Months
• 5 Balls – Months to Years

I decided to stop juggling four balls and go back to the fundamentals: two and three ball exercises. I’m glad I did. After spending the first week “starting over”, here’s my progress:

In a way, glad that juggling four balls didn’t come easy. Sometimes, you have to go back a few steps to move forward.