One Thing At a Time

The nature of my mind is to jump from one thing to another.   The same busy mind, what some refer to as "monkey mind" (continually jumping and leaping from one thing to another), that conjures up distracting thoughts during meditation, continues to work throughout the day.

It would seem to be the easiest of things, to have one thing in mind, and to hold it there until the task was complete.  In fact, that seems to be the hardest and most unnatural of things.

Just before writing this post, I had set out from the bedroom to the living room to check tomorrow's weather on the computer to prepare appropriately for my early morning departure to yoga.  By the time I reached the computer and sat down, my mind had remembered another thing to do, and I found myself doing that and wondering - "Why did I come in here?  Oh yes, the weather."

Many people think they can "multitask," but I have read, and am convinced, that is not the case.  The conscious mind can work on one thing at a time.  What we can do, is hold a number of partially done tasks in suspension and pull them out to work on briefly before setting them back and working on another.

The ability to keep track of multiple tasks is certainly valuable, as there often externalities that cause delay - such as waiting for a response from another person that is necessary before moving on, or waiting for a part that has been ordered.   But, at least in my case, the juggling of multiple unfinished tasks is often inefficient churning exacerbated by the monkey mind.

The same discipline used in meditation, of observing the thoughts without engaging them, is needed to keep attention on the task at hand.  If a thought seems important I may take an instant to jot it down, but not let the core of my focus divert to it.

This is not easy for me.  It is far easier to chase the leaping monkey around.  But the payoff, when I can sustain it, is that I feel less fragmented and less stress. Because I stay focused until the task is complete, I have a much greater sense of accomplishment.