With This and With That

On the authority of Ahmad in Basheer ibn Sa'eed al-Kandee who said:

'I asked Abu 'Abdullah Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A man memorized the Quran, and now studies Hadeeth, he goes to the Masjid and reads [Quran] and it is read to him, but he misses out on Hadeeth and studying it. If he studies Hadeeth, he would miss the Majid, and if he goes to the Masjid he would miss studying Hadeeth. What do you advise him?'

He said:

"With this and with that."

So I repeated the question a number of times, every time he would respond with the same response: "With this and with that."

Tabaqaat al-Hanaabilah: 1/23

Meaning that from amongst the greatest things that assist the student of knowledge in gaining knowledge is organizing his time, therefore he must not miss one thing at the expense of another.