I learned about explaining commitments in terms of glass and rubber balls from the amazing Chelsea Johston. I had not heard this analogy prior. In googling it, it looks like this comes to us from (at least one source, not sure if first, and good ideas normally have multiple firsts) Nora Roberts, who explained commitments as either glass or plastic/rubber balls. It’s fine to drop the ones that bounce, or at least that won’t break. But, the glass ones have to be handled.
Since the pandemic and in our current age of late capitalism, a lot of us have more glass balls than ever before, and it’s good to know what’s not glass and what can be dropped. As we get closer to the end of this year, I’m working to close out a number of important things, and I plan on letting some things bounce on into the new year. I’m hoping others also have things that can drop, and maybe bounce to a future day or even just bounce away.