# dropping balls (capacity)

*Ordinarily means:* failing to handle tasks one is responsible for

A sign that a person's energy capacity has drifted near the wall where maintenance of existing tasks stops and failures begin.

- Computed level: L19 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday_language  ·  Arena: work_life

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [energy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-energy.capacity), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end)

**Through:** phrasal

**Novel properties:**
- capacity_and_burnout

## Examples
- The 2019 outage at Gatwick Airport's baggage system after staff shortages led to unchecked conveyor jams. *(engineering)*
- Australia's myxomatosis program lost effectiveness as rabbit populations evolved resistance within five years. *(biology)*
- Knight Capital's $440M loss in 2012 when outdated trading algorithms activated without monitoring. *(economics)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dropping-balls.capacity*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dropping-balls.capacity.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*