顧此失彼

1. • lit. to attend to one thing and lose sight of another (idiom)
2. • fig. to be unable to manage two or more things at once
3. • cannot pay attention to one thing without neglecting the other

Character by character

• 顧(gù)look after
• 此(cǐ)this
• 失(shī)lose
• 彼(bǐ)that