Fixing Your Focus - 016 Stop Multi-Tasking

Skipping Back and Forth Between Activities: The Nature of Fire-of-Fire-of-Earth

With siyata d’shmaya we will now conclude our discussion about the power of focus\concentration. In this lesson, we will discuss focus-related issues which stem from fire-of-fire [of “earth”] in the soul. As mentioned in the previous chapters, fire-of-fire is the soul’s ability of dilug, skipping.

Every soul contains the [opposite] powers of order (seder) and skipping (dilug). The power to skip comes from the soul’s element of fire. When someone has a strong amount of fire-of-fire in his soul, he will have a nature to skip a lot, and he is weak when it comes to being orderly. In some cases, he has almost no orderliness at all, in his life. The stronger a person’s fire, the more of an imbalance there will be, in his powers of orderliness and his skipping.

When a person has a strong nature of fire-of-fire, he usually has very little yishuv hadaas (lit. “settling of the mind”, or mental composure). He will be ‘scatterbrained’ when it comes to his actions, as well as in his thinking. The Chovos HaLevovos says of this nature, “May the Merciful One save us from pizur hanefesh, scattering of the soul.” The problem of being “scattered” can be manifest in the areas of action, thought, and speech.

‘Scattered’ speech is manifest in those who keep switching topics when they talk. Some people keep repeating what they are saying, or they mix in other topics which are irrelevant, and they are very unfocused in their conversations.

Example – The Repairman Who Can Multi-Task

As an example, often a repairman who can multi-task between different kinds of activities, has this nature to lose focus, due to the dominance of fire-of-fire in his soul. He will be working at something and then immediately start working on something else, without giving this too much thought, and soon he goes back to what he was originally doing, which he left off from. He becomes scattered between his many different activities that he keeps jumping into. At any given moment, he may be doing something else.

Usually, he is not conscious about his multi-tasking. In the cases where he is conscious of it, he may sometimes becomes frustrated and upset that he hasn’t gotten a job done, and he will then think of himself as a thoughtless, unorganized person. In either scenario, he is always skipping from one kind of activity to another, before completing his first job, until he eventually returns to his first activity, repeating the cycle.

Fire-of-fire is not just a nature to skip between activities. It is a nature to skip, and then go back, and to repeat the process. He may do three or four different activities after starting his original activity, but he keeps returning to his original activity, as if he is going around and around on a ferris wheel.

The nature of fire, simply speaking, is when a person jumps from one activity before he has finished it. Fire-of-fire is when a person skips to the next activity and later returns to his original activity, and then repeating the cycle. He will keep skipping back and forth between different activities even within the same activity.

For example, a worker may take on too many jobs in one day, because he is afraid that he doesn’t look professional enough. He will keep taking on other activities as he is amidst his first activity, so that he doesn’t lose his job. He is not merely jumping between different activities. He keeps going back to his original activity. Similarly, a person is talking and he keeps switching the topic, and then he returns to what he was originally discussing. He may wonder how he got involved in the other topics and he doesn’t remember what he was originally talking about.

In summary, fire-of-fire is a nature to skip in a “circular” fashion – he skips between different activities but he always returns to what he started doing.

“Grabbing” Onto As Much As He Can

Sometimes, those who have this nature will always living with the attitude of “Grab what to eat, for tomorrow, we may die”. Either a person will have this attitude when it comes to physical matters – meaning that he is grabbing onto as much physical enjoyment as he can, because he is afraid that he might die tomorrow, Rachmana Litzlan (may the Merciful One save him). Or, a person may have this attitude when it comes to the spiritual, to keep grabbing on to levels, without properly developing themselves first. A person like this does not build his inner world.

There are people who adapt the saying of the Sages, “All that is in your power, do”.[1] They grab on to as much as mitzvos as possible, but it is as if they are trying to grab onto as much spirituality as possible. For example, a person picks up the phone in middle of davening because he wants to do chessed. He wants to grab the opportunity of chessed when it comes his way. Certainly there is a constructive ideal to grab opportunities of mitzvos, but only of this is done in a way that is balanced, and not if it is causing a person to lose his yishuv hadaas.

When a person keeps grabbing onto what to eat when it comes to the spiritual, he jumps from one activity to another and it becomes his attitude towards life. Some people that the main thing in life is acting, others think the main thing is feelings, and others think the main thing is thoughts. A person may make a cheshbon hanefesh all day of how much mitzvos he did that day. When he comes upstairs after 120, he may discover that he has millions of mitzvos, which makes sense according to his cheshbon hanefesh - but it is all his external world, and he never built his internal world. That is not the true life a person should live.

When people are always trying to do several things at once, even mitzvos, this is not a truthful way of living. It causes a person to be scattered in his soul (this resembles the words of the Gemara, “His head is from Eretz Yisrael, his body is from Bavel.”[2])

Taking this issue further, there are those who are involved with benefitting the community, in all kinds of organization. There are generous people available to take phone calls from anyone who needs help, in all kinds of situations. Sometimes they are indeed very helpful to others. If a person has a carefully organized approach towards helping others, that is wonderful. But if a person can’t be organized about it and he tries to take care of too many issues at once, what will happen?

He tries to answer two or three phones at once, and to one caller he says “Just a moment, please”, and to the other he says, “Just a minute”, so that he can get back to answering the first caller. Since he is in middle of taking care of several issues at once, his answers to the caller aren’t thought out enough, because he isn’t focused on the issue at hand. The caller can tell that he is well-meaning, but he isn’t actually being helped.

In worse cases, he is involved in this kind of philanthropy for the community because he wants to be honored by others for it, and he is really in it for the glory. But even in cases where he is well-meaning, although his intentions are good, he isn’t actually being helpful to others,

This creates the problem of “scattering” (pizur) in one’s activities. It is well-known that Rav Chaim Ozer Grodozensky zt”l was able to write two different halachic responses at once, while thinking of a third thing at the same time. This was an extraordinary ability, and there were only individuals throughout the generations who could multi-task like this, while maintaining their yishuv hadaas (mental composure). Many people have the problem of writing while they are talking. It makes a person used to a life of extreme multi-tasking, where a person skips from one thing to another.

Often a person with this nature has many different businesses and interests he’s involved with. He skips from one topic to another and he becomes very scattered in his soul. Even more so, there are people who pressure their homes by taking on too much work and making the children do one thing after another, to do many activities within five minutes. They try to get as much done possible within short amounts of time.

When a person physically exerts himself and he is running but he cannot really take this amount of exertion, such as running to make the bus every day, this may be taking its toll on his “inner” health. Living in this way is like a shadow running after a person. The person tries to do as much possible, more and more. The person takes on many different jobs and activities, running from one thing to another. Sometimes a person thinks that this is called being energetic, enthusiastic, more alive, etc. But in truth, it is not enthusiastic or energetic. It is chaotic!

“Scattered” Thinking When Learning Torah

Going further with this issue, there are those who learn Torah with a “scattered” soul. Instead of learning one sugya of Gemara after another, they review some of yesterday’s learning as well as the day before that, before starting today’s learning. A person has a certain amount of time a day to learn Torah, and he might choose to stuff all of his learning Torah with many different kinds of learning - Chumash, Mishnah, Gemara and Navi - skipping back and forth between these studies.

The Remedy: Finishing What You Start

Nowadays, people are skipping around much more [in their Torah learning] between one thing and another. But the ideal way to build the soul – which is the antithesis to the jumpy, skipping nature of fire-of-fire - is to always make sure that you finish what you start.

To illustrate the idea, there were some people who would have the practice that whenever they came across a sefer and they started to learn it, they would make sure to finish the entire sefer. Of course, we are not saying that everyone needs to do this, but the point is that one should train his soul to finish what he starts.

Living A Life of Quality As Opposed To Quantity

An additional point here is that the nature of fire-of-fire, which is the root of the nature to skip over things, is really a wish to save time, by cramming in as much as possible. His belief is, “I want to save as much time as possible”, and that is why he will skip back and forth between doing different activities. But by doing so, he is placing “quantity” over “quality”.

A person with a nature of fire-of-fire [of earth], in order to be remedied, has to realize that the gain of “quality” is far more important than the gain of “quantity”. It is more important to get things done in the right way, than to get many things done if they won’t be done right. This change of perspective will not only remedy the nature of fire-of-fire – it will cause an overhaul to a person’s entire life.

The Chovos HaLevovos says that “A little bit which is pure, is better than a lot which isn’t pure”. A little bit that is done right is far better than a lot that is deficient. The mitzvos which involve actionare usually about quantity, while the “duties of the heart” (called our chovos halevovos), our internal world, is more about quality.

The Gemara also describes this in an argument of “Sinai (a reference to a person who has a more encompassing knowledge of the Torah’s laws), or the one who can uproot mountains (a reference to a person who possesses more in-depth understanding of Torah, but who doesn’t have as much encompassing knowledge) – which one has precedence?” Sinai represents quantity, and the one who “uproots mountains” represents quality.

Surely quantity is also important, but it must be balanced with quality. Without quality, quantity is like an empty vessel. In more mystical terms, the quality is like the “light” that goes into our “vessel” – our quantity of actions. When we become more focused on gaining quality rather than on quality, we will demand more truth and orderliness in our lives.

The more a person makes sure to have “quality” in his actions rather than “quantity”, even when he runs after doing different activities, he makes sure to be focused more on the quality of what he is doing, rather than on simply getting things done. He will then live very differently. That is one example of living a life of “quality”.

Quality In Our Emotions and Thoughts

Going deeper with this, there is not only quality in actions, but quality in life itself, which one can attain. When one has a superficial perspective, he places priority on action, on getting things done. If has a more inner perspective, he is aware that it is more important to get things done in the right way. If he has an even more inner perspective, he knows that quality is life itself. Life, itself, is about quality. Besides for improving the quality of his actions, one can also improve the very quality of his life itself, when he places more emphasis on quality than on quantity.

Chazal state on the verse “And the living shall take to heart”[3] that “It is enough for him that he is alive”. What does this mean, “to be alive”? The real meaning of “life” is an inner reality, in which one places his priority on attaining quality.  A life of quality includes actions of quality, as well as quality in emotions and thoughts, a life of serenity, menuchas hanefesh. True serenity is not a false, “pseudo” kind of menuchas hanefesh which is nothing but slothfulness, but a true kind of serenity that has inner quality to it. When one has attained “quality” in his actions, emotions, and thoughts, and as a result he is more serene, this is what it means to live a life of quality.

Let us emphasize again that this idea does not only mean improving the quality of our actions alone, but to live a life of quality, which includes our emotions and thoughts. Since we live in a “world of action”, a world which places emphasis more on getting things done rather than on inner emotions and thoughts, it is only understandably that people will attribute value to “quality” with regards to their actions, but when it comes to emotions and thoughts, it is more difficult for people to understand the need for “quality” emotions and thoughts. But there is a whole world of “quality” to be uncovered in one’s inner world – in one’s emotions and thoughts.

Let us ask the following question. How many people have “quality” in their emotions? Only a few people, who are hard to find. Most people are involved with the “world of action”. The “world of emotions” is experienced by most people only when they experience stress, nervousness, or lusts and various pleasures. The outside, superficial world today considers a “life of quality” to be a life in which one owns a big house, a nice car, and other niceties. This is a “life of quality” from the viewpoint of fantasy. From the perspective of our inner world, though, a “life of quality” is when one has orderliness in his soul, where he is clear about his emotions and thoughts.

What is a life of “quality” kinds of thoughts? What are the kinds of thoughts found in most people? If they are not learning Torah, their thoughts are about “what they need to do”, which is action, not thought. A few people are interested in philosophy and they like to gather knowledge, but generally, the thoughts they are involved with are false. An even smaller percentage of people are involved in their thoughts with Torah study, but even within this minority, how much quality is there in their thoughts? There are a very small amount of people who have quality in their Torah thoughts. How many people have quality in their emotions and thoughts together? That is an even smaller percentage.

One needs to have the attitude of “living a life of quality”. We can give an example, of the difference between a life of imagined quality, versus a life of genuine quality. A person may want a nice big home, or a nice new car, and he might want it so badly that he will do anything to make it happen. He thinks that he will live a life of quality. How much time will he have to get to enjoy his new house or car? He will have to do a lot of running around, always going back and forth to the bank, as he is paying back his loans. He will never get to experience the “quality” of all that which he has done.

When a person lives a more inner kind of life than this, and he is interested in living a life of quality, he is aware that a nice house and other niceties in life are only tools that “expand” the mind (as the Sages state, that there are three things which expand the mind – “A beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and beautiful utensils”[4]), but they are only a part of a greater equation, and these things are not everything. In order for any of these things to be beneficial for one’s peace of mind, they must be given proper balance, within the guidelines of the Torah (we cannot get into all of the details here).

A Change In Perspective

Through living a life of quality, a person gains an entirely new perspective on living life. As a result, he will lessen the amount of how many actions he thinks he needs to do, his actions will have more quality to them, he will have a more settled mind when he does things, and he will do things in a calmer manner. And it goes without saying that he will not be quickly skipping back and forth between different activities - in most cases. Instead of jumping back to his previous activity which he was in middle of doing, he will sit calmly with himself, compose himself, and reflect, returning inward to himself.

Instead of utilizing his time by cramming in as much as he can, he utilizes his time by regaining the experience of his inner world – his mind and his emotions. He is not simply taking a break for the sake of taking a break, but for the purpose of regaining his yishuv hadaas, his mental composure, and taking this refreshing break, he will perform more effectively when he returns to his work. He makes sure to take pauses between different activities, instead of grabbing onto as much activities as he can. This is because he would rather experience what he has done, instead of doing more without experiencing it. He understands the value of taking breaks and pauses between different activities, and he does not view this as b’dieved (after the fact, and not the ideal way to start with), but rather as l’chatchilah (the ideal way to act).

When people always want to fill up their time and they never takes pauses between what they do, this is a misconception about life, and it is a form of exile to the soul.[5] Instead, the ideal way to live is to get things done and make sure to have time to take breaks between activities. One should perform what he needs to do, then stop, then return to performance, then pausing again, and repeat the cycle. When one lives like this, he weakens his fire-of-fire.

(However, if a person has an extreme level of fire-of-fire to the point that he is bordering on mental illness, our words here do not apply to him. Such a person will need to be dealt with more extensively, because his soul is in need of much more inner order. We are not dealing this here.)

Here we are dealing with those who are often doing a lot at once and they skip between different activities, even if these are spiritual activities such as doing many acts of chessed at the same time, and certainly if he is does a lot of multi-tasking when it comes to material matters. The remedy of this nature does not mainly lie in changing how he acts, though that, too, is part of the equation. The root of the remedy here is by changing his perspective towards life. There will be a change in the way he acts, though, as a result of the change in his perspective towards life.

The more one that one gets used to this change of perspective, he will live his life very differently than the way most people live. Most people, when they have to be somewhere at a certain time, will make sure to arrive on time or a little later than that, so that they can get more things done before they get there. Instead, a person can live differently than this, and he can show up at an earlier time to events, so that he can have time to himself to compose his mind. He is not looking on how to fill up his time, but in making sure to finish what he starts, and then taking a break so he can regain his composure, before moving on to the next activity. Living in this way greatly weakens the fire-of-fire from dominating his soul.

Not always is this possible. Some situations are more complex, and a person is not always to regain his composure, before moving on to the next activity. For example, a posek (halachic authority) who sits in a Beis Din has to answer questions on all areas of Torah, and he has to be involved with several issues at once, when dealing with people. There is a difficulty contained in this, because often he has to make quickly skip between different topics and cases. There are some people who should not take such a position, because the rapid transition between different subjects is harmful to their concentration, and there is a danger of rendering an inaccurate ruling. But ideally, in the average situation, one needs to avoid skipping between activities, and instead he must try to finish what he starts and then take a break before moving on to the next thing.

In Summary

Thus, ideally speaking, one needs to lead a more organized kind of lifestyle, by making sure to finish what they start and by then taking breaks between activities. In this way, one will also be able to use his fire-of-fire in a holy manner, when he needs to, by shattering his normal boundaries, if such a need ever arrives. But the general way to live life is to weaken the ability of fire-of-fire in the soul – by always making sure to live a more organized kind of life, taking breaks between one activity and another, as opposed to skipping back and forth between different activities. This is the depth of the power of yishuv hadaas, the settling of the mind.

In Conclusion Of The Series “Fixing Your Focus”

We have merited here with siyata d’shmaya to complete the discussion about the power of focus. It has really been brief, and there are more details to say, as with everything else. I hope that at least some of it has been clearly understood, and has given you greater clarity on how to gain more focus, so that you can gain the yishuv hadaas and thereby be able to live a life of “Who is one who is destined to the World To Come?”[6], which refers to a world of menuchah (serenity), alife of inner menuchas hanefesh, at its root.