Multitasking🔗

I had always been proud of my ability to do many things at once. In fact, I felt confused and inadequate when I did not have multiple things to do at any point in time.

I felt disturbed when Master spoke of the present moment and the need to focus on what is in hand. What if many things were in hand?

So I asked, 'Master, you have said that we need to be in the present moment. You have said, when we eat we should eat, when we sleep, we should sleep. When we eat, we should not talk, watch TV or read. Does this also mean that when I do one job, I should focus on it thoroughly and finish it before I take another job?'

'It is simple', Master said, 'you need to be aware all the time. You can only be aware in the present moment. You cannot be aware in the past because that is history. You cannot be aware in the future, because it is yet to begin. You can only be aware now. Now is that precise moment of the present. The minute I say now, the now is past already. You can only do one thing now. The moment you start another, you are no longer in the now. What you started earlier is past.'

He must have sensed that I was looking quite blank. Compassion flowed.

'Listen', He said, 'There is a saying that you cannot step into a river twice, is there not?'

I nodded.

'I say that you cannot step into a river even once!' He said. 'The moment you dip your toes into the river, much before your entire foot goes into that water, the water that your toe touched is no longer the water your heel touches. The water that touches the two is not the same. Do you follow?'

I did and I nodded.

'That's why you cannot ever do anything with awareness unless you do that in the present moment and you cannot do more than one thing in the present moment. You may imagine you are doing many things all at once. You cannot even really listen to music and read at the same time, as you all pretend you do. You cannot do both with awareness.

That is why I always ask you and all participants in my courses not to write anything down when I speak. You can either listen to me or write what I say. While you write you have lost what I say. You are no longer actively listening. You are listening with only one part of your energy. You are listening without awareness, if you write at the same time. Do you understand?' He asked.

'Yes, Master', I ventured, 'I understand; but I get bored working in the same thing for long. I need to move from one job to another to keep myself interested. What can I do?'

I knew I was asking for trouble.

'There is nothing you can do if you have a mind like a monkey' Master was as usual in clear understanding of the status of my mind. 'It will wander. Your mind controls you and you pretend that you are in control. When you are focused, your mind can become a laser beam. Just by looking at something with such focus in the present moment you can understand everything about that object everywhere. That's why Vivekananda said that by studying a handful of clay in your hand with awareness you can learn about all the different types of soil in the world.'

He saw that I was not convinced.

'Let me take a simple example. Why do you think law enforcement agencies all over the world prohibit you from talking on your mobile phone while driving? You are not only a danger to yourself, but a menace to everyone else on the road, is it not? Your attention wanders. Your attention wanders even if you listen to the radio, and suddenly there is something so interesting that it takes your attention away from the road. Your mind cannot handle two things at the same time.'

'What about corporate life? Everyone is under so much pressure that everyone has to handle multiple tasks at the same time. What can be done?' I was still not convinced.

'That's why corporations are in the mess they are most of the times'; He was biting in sarcasm, 'In the name of multi-tasking these guys act without awareness and cause harm. You can handle multiple projects at the same time, no doubt and you need to. There is no way though that you would be able to handle all of them simultaneously. You have to take manageable bites from each, complete, digest and move on to the next.'

'Try this approach next time you are confronted with multiple tasks.' He said, 'Focus on each separately and completely. See how big a difference it makes to your productivity and quality of output.'

Well, my Master is a CEO of sorts. If I needed any proof of that, the value of His words provided that.