Mozart's observation cuts deeper than mere productivity advice—it captures a paradox that modern life tends to ignore: we often *feel* like we're saving time by scattering our attention, when we're actually surrendering it. The real wisdom here lies in recognizing that a single-minded focus isn't a limitation but rather the fastest route through complex work, because our minds don't actually multitask; they merely context-switch at tremendous cost. A surgeon closing a wound or a musician interpreting a passage can't afford the cognitive friction of divided attention, and neither, really, can the rest of us—yet we pretend otherwise every time we check email mid-conversation. What makes this insight stick is that it's counterintuitive: we've been sold the myth that doing everything at once makes us efficient, when Mozart knew that doing one thing supremely well is what actually moves us forward.