One Thing At A Time

Somewhere along the line I read or heard mention of the practice to focus solely on a single task at a time. This was quite a while ago on my journey, so I cannot picture the original source that opened this concept to me. However, it aligns well with the mantra recitation I've written about before  - where when I'm doing something mundane like washing the dishes, I will often repeat "Om Namah Shivaya" to help focus my mind and stop the Ego monologue.

In recent times, this mantra practice has stopped in many home-based tasks because I nearly always have Pandora playing one of three stations (if you're curious, they're Krishna Das Radio, Bhagavan Das Radio, and MC Yogi Radio). The results are similar, however, as I focus on the music and chants and contemplate their meaning rather than doing it on my on in silence.

Back to the point, doing one task at a time, being un-attached to the results of that action, has been a beneficial practice for me. I lost track of the times I've run up the stairs of my townhouse, spilling tea or coffee on the carpeted steps. What used to happen is that I'd wander downstairs for a refill, then jog back upstairs to get back to work. My task was "getting back to work" which doesn't quite fit. The result was that I'd jog up the steps, the liquid would slosh a bit, and sometimes splatter onto the carpet. Then I'd have to delay "getting back to work" to address the "clean up this mess" task before it could stain the carpet. Spilling carelessly is just one side event, but others might include toe-stubbing or forgetting what I actually went downstairs to do in the first place. I'm sure we've all been there!

Nowadays, as my coffee cup empties, I move downstairs with the single task "refill coffee." That may change into "rinse out coffee maker" and other little things in between. Then when I'm going back upstairs, my task is "carry coffee to office." With my focus on that task, there hasn't been a single spill or toe-stub since. It seems to work.

Recently I read 101 Zen Stories (a fun short read) and came across this gem (reproduced without permission; 101 Zen Stories attributes this to Essential Zen. May the original authors be pleased with my use of their story):

Seung Sahn would say, "When you eat, just eat. When you read the newspaper, just read the newspaper. Don't do anything other than what you are doing."

One day a student saw him reading the newspaper while he was eating. The student asked if this did not contradict his teachings.  

Seung Sahn said, "When you eat and read the newspaper, just eat and read the newspaper."

One can of course chalk this little story up to "do as I say, not as I do" but that would discount the wisdom in focusing one's mind on a single task. Rather it speaks to the speed of our modern society. As eating takes some focus, it also takes some time. Reading takes more focus and also takes time. In the interest of time, I believe there's leeway in this teaching to combine certain activities without missing the point. There's no need to try to create a list of activities that are OK to combine, but maybe to point out a key activity that you cannot combine:  Listening. You cannot listen well when you are also reading, when you are waiting to speak next, when you are watching TV, or many other activities. Not listening fully is disrespectful. After all, you expect to be heard when you're speaking, right? So put down your phone, put down the book, face your friend, and listen with respect.

Performing your task with singular focus yet being un-attached to the results is a concept I would like to visit in a future post.


Opinions are not knowledge, they are only sidelights on knowledge. Most often they are illegitimate extensions of an imperfect knowledge. -- Sri Aurobindo