Your mind is like a magic 8 ball.

Just don’t shake it too hard, okay?

About five years ago, a wise mentor of mine said,

“You can do anything. But you can’t do everything, all at once, perfectly.”

At the time, I thought I knew what she meant. I even said something like, “Right, I mean, of course. I know,”and she gave me one of those knowing smiles that is torturous to youth because it says, “Don’t get cocky. You know nothing.”

In any case, I believed her when she said I couldn’t do everything all at once perfectly, so I set about doing lots of stuff really well instead.

And lots of stuff I did. Six months later, I was working two part-time jobs, taking online marketing courses, developing a plan for a life coaching business, and starting a Shakespeare company. I was also teaching myself how to cook, working out regularly, reading self-help books, and cultivating my appearance. I was building new friendships while maintaining old ones. I was nurturing my relationship with the boyfriend I was with at the time, and caring for the home we shared.

Writing that, it seems like a lot, but at the time it felt like I wasn’t doing enough stuff. And it definitely didn’t feel like I was doing any of it really well. It felt like I wasn’t trying hard enough, I wasn’t successful enough, I might have even been doing the wrong stuff. I felt stressed when things piled up and lazy when they didn’t. I felt scattered and kind of superficial.

This feeling was nothing new, though — it was something I’d been experiencing pretty consistently since elementary school.

I remember a particularly stressful night from fourth grade (fourth grade!), when I looked at the unfinished homework strewn across the kitchen table and cried, “I can’t do it, Mommy, I can’t!” She told me it would be okay, that I’d get everything done like I always did. Then she put a hot dog in the microwave while cursing the school for giving a nine year old so much to do. I calmed down enough to take one bite of the hot dog, and promptly fell asleep upright at the table.

See?! That’s what happens! Fourth Grade Brooke let her guard down for one second — she stopped worrying about the myriad of other things on her plate just long enough to focus on the hot dog — and she fell asleep! I bet she didn’t even get all her homework done that night!

But Fourth-Grade-Brooke was doing a lot of different things! And that was stressful, because what if something having to do with one of those many things fell through the cracks? What if she left a textbook at school that she would need for one of her homework assignments? What if she didn’t have any energy left after homework to practice piano? What if she really just wanted to watch TV or talk to her best friend on the phone anyway?

Fourth-Grade-Brooke — in trying to focus on so many different things — wasn’t able focus on much of anything at all.

The mind is like a Magic 8 Ball — give it a shake, and in a moment the answer you seek will appear. But first you have to know what question to ask, and you can only ask one question at a time. And you can only shake that thing so many times at one sleepover before your arms are sore and your friends get bored and start calling their moms to come pick them up.

(Fortunately, the mind gives more reliable and less snarky answers than a Magic 8 Ball. Also, you shouldn’t shake your mind.)

This is why you can do anything — you have the tools. This is also why you can’t do everything all at once perfectly.

When I tell people that now I tend to let my inner wisdom rule, that when I don’t know what to do I trust that an answer will come in the form of an insight, they sometimes ask,

“But what if the answer you need doesn’t come in time? What if you have lots of problems all at once that all require answers? Do I need to cut things out of my life?”

I get it — I know what it’s like to be on the hook to solve so many problems all at once it feels like there’s no time to wait for wisdom. But I also know that wisdom works quickly, that insight can come in an instant. There is enough time to wait for wisdom. Sometimes that wisdom will come back with a solution to a problem, but sometimes it will simply provide levity, clarity, and a sense that there is enough time.

We each already have all the answers we could ever need, or at least the tools to find those answers. But we can’t access all the answers all the time. We can only really have one thought at once. Even when our thoughts fly by so quickly we can’t even see them, they’re still sequential. Multi-tasking is not doing multiple tasks at the same time; it’s switching rapidly between multiple tasks. In any given moment, we are doing one thing at one time, having one thought at one time, paying attention to one thing at one time.

I’ve pared down my life significantly in the past few years. I’ve redirected my focus on a handful of relationships in my life that bring me the most joy, and challenge me to grow the most. I deeply de-cluttered my space, selling or donating 90% of my possessions. I’ve said “No, thank you,” to more projects, commitments, and collaborations than I’ve declined in my whole life.

I used to weed things out intentionally. I had a hunch that I wanted a more minimalist life, so I forced the de-cluttering a bit. But now, I’m seeing minimalism as more of a mental state than a lifestyle or a set of circumstances. I’m starting to see that joy, depth, and ease happen naturally when I allow myself to focus on one thing at a time. And I’m finding that I’m no longer so paralyzed — I’m actually getting more done.

So I agree with my mentor. No, you can’t do everything, all at once, perfectly. But — with a little bit of trust in your innate ability to be wise — you can indeed do anything, in good time, deeply.

Brooke writes daily here on Medium and at brookebishop.com.