Dale Jones, is the first one-handed juggler that history records (International Juggler's Association). He hurt his right-hand severely at age 8, becoming an instant lefty.
He endured 25 operations on his right-hand and arm, first to save it, and then to get as much use out of it as possible. Jones cannot even talk about the pain and misery he spent during those years. One operation so painful it has all but been abandoned. Writing about it, Jones says, "was one of the hardest things I've ever done." But, he knew he had to, to give his motivational story any real power.
"My story starts in absolute despair, but I went on to have a life many can only dream about."
It didn't come easy.
Jones found juggling at age 16, and it changed his life. He learned everything he could about juggling and practiced constantly. Jones even practiced at night until he fell asleep from exhaustion, often waking up on the floor the next morning with his juggling props around him.
He soon became so good juggling two balls in one-hand that he began competing and winning jobs over regular two-handed jugglers. It was there he hit his first real roadblock though.
People started asking him if he could juggle three balls. Not fast enough to juggle three in one-hand the normal way yet, Jones was determined to find another way.
Eventually, after what Jones would describe as "a study of failure" he developed a system that he calls the Bounce-Multiplex. It was such a success for him that he could not only juggle three balls, but do it with the ease of any two-handed juggler.
At that point, Jones had effectively evened the playing field with regular jugglers. He began getting some top entertainment jobs, even being hired by The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
He slowly adapted the Bounce-Multiplex for 4, 5 and even 6 balls. By this time, Jones had become one of the best jugglers in the world. Featured in "PEOPLE Magazine," in a front page article in "USA Today," and on too many national television shows to count.
Jones toured the nation performing for many, many years. His quick wit and astounding juggling often making him the most well-recieved entertainer anywhere he performed.
Jones has been asked to motivate others to overcome their problems (as he had overcome his disability), almost since as he started performing. He began to study the subject of motivation very seriously, in fact, and developed a program called: "Motivation in Motion."
Determination and perseverence, he feels, are the most powerful traits a person can have. The determination to absolutely learn everything you can about whatever you want to succeed in. To be so practiced that the seemingly impossible, becomes routine. To fail over and over again and persevere until success somehow, finally happens. Even if that success is actually just an unforeseen accident!
Indeed, Jones found that happy accidents, or serendipity, happened to him now and then, simply because he knew so much about his subjects of performing and juggling.
"Chance favors the prepared mind," Is not a quote by Jones though. It was said by the very father of vaccines, Louis Pasteur! In fact, Pasteur's first vaccine (for chicken Cholera), was an accident.
Jones tells audiences that if one knows everything there is to know about a subject, - if they've already "read the book," then all they have to do to succeed is write one more page. One more page, to do something that no one has ever done before! That's all it takes.
In this book, as in his life, Jones takes the reader through the process of failure to success. "Juggling is a study of that process. You fail over and over at each new trick, or every time you add another ball to juggle. But, you don't give up. You become determined and eventually persevere, getting so confident in your improvement you can finally add that failed trick to your act. That's how success works at anything, in fact."
Obviously, Jones knows what he's talking about.
