We fool ourselves into believing that we have so much to do. In reality, we have only ONE thing to do at any given time. And we need to do that with our full mind and body – full concentration.

We also need to be convinced and wholeheartedly believe that ‘doing many things’ is not to our advantage. That it leads to ‘muddying the waters’ – so to speak. i.e. – we end up doing as much (maybe more) damage, as good. To avoid doing any damage, the most we can do is the ‘one thing at a time’.

As we switch to this mindset, a few things become evident:

1. Doing everything becomes a lot of fun. Anytime we bring our full focus to a task, it automatically turns from a chore to a fun filled task. There is something game changing about being ‘fully present’ at any moment.
2. There is less stress – since we are sure (we are convinced) that there is nothing else that we need to be doing at this moment in time. Most conflicts arise from the desire to do other things while we are doing something else.
3. There is less of a focus on results and more on the action itself – since your entire concentration is focused on the task itself.
4. When you have nothing to do – do nothing with full concentration. This is also part of practicing mindfulness.
5. One loses sense of time. This is one of the best indicators about whether you are performing something with full concentration or not.
6. There is a sense of awareness of one’s body. As one puts one’s entire mind and body into a task, this awareness naturally comes about.

Entire life going from task to task?

Can one spend one’s entire life going from task to task with full concentration – and not thinking about the results? That seems to be the ‘holy grail’ of Hinduism and Buddhism – but whether the fickle human mind can retain the state for an entire lifetime seems doubtful.

What is the task?

Assuming that  one tries to go through life doing ‘one thing at a time’ (with full concentration), the real task is maintaining continuity of this mindset. The task is actually – staying on track to doing the ‘one thing at a time’. Not getting swayed by the demands of the outside world – and getting driven off-track. .