Dear Magicians,

You might notice today’s Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message hit your inbox on a Tuesday.

Whoops. Blame procrastination and multitasking. You see, yesterday on Monday, I received hardcopies of my 4th book, Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, and I am sooo excited for you to get your own copy (please wait till 9/9 though). I was so obsessed with how I can get it out into the world with a proper ‘birth day’ — which is also my actual birthday 🎉 by the way… so you know what I want for my present — a purchase!

On the back of the book, I was honored to receive “blurbs” from productivity gurus like Cal Newport and Ali Abdaal. Now, while most productivity advice is fundamentally dishonest, Cal and Ali’s advice has resonated with me.

They don’t pretend you can optimize your way out of the deepest human problem: the fact that consciousness itself is finite. They recognize you have roughly 16 waking hours per day. That’s 5,840 hours annually.

No system changes this.

I’ve been studying attention economics research while designing what I call a “Physics of Focus” framework for the book.

The data are sobering. The average knowledge worker switches contexts every 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Each switch costs approximately 23 minutes to fully refocus.

Simple math: If you’re context-switching 15 times per day, you’re losing 5.75 hours of deep work capacity.

Daily.

This isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an existential one.

What is it like to be you, right now, reading this sentence?

Notice: your attention is either here or elsewhere. There’s no middle ground. You aren’t Schrodinger’s Cat — you simply cannot simultaneously focus on cosmic birefringence research AND plan dinner with your spouse. Consciousness doesn’t multitask—it rapidly sequences.

Most people treat attention like it’s renewable.

It isn’t.

The Three Tests That Actually Matter

The Deathbed Test: Research from palliative care specialists shows the top regret isn’t “I wish I’d worked more.” It’s “I wish I’d been more present.” What would you change if you had six months?

The Tuesday Test: Ali advises to Map your ideal Tuesday. But I say map not the ideal but the actual. Time-tracking studies reveal we’re wrong about how we spend time by an average of 40%. Where does your attention actually go?

The Physics Test: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Your mental energy follows identical laws. What’s the highest-leverage transformation of your finite cognitive resources? What way can you apply Cal’s notions of Deep Work to live a Deeper Life?

I spent three years building a $2M research program while launching a podcast and writing 3 books. The secret wasn’t optimization.

It was subtraction.

Every “yes” to low-value activities is a “no” to high-impact work. The math is unforgiving: Pareto Principle research shows 80% of outcomes derive from 20% of inputs. Most of what you do doesn’t matter.

Most of what I do doesn’t matter.

The Real Challenge

This week, conduct an attention audit. Track every context switch for 48 hours. Use your phone’s screen time data. Review your calendar retrospectively. The results will be uncomfortable.

Then ask: If consciousness is all you have, how are you spending it?

Reply with your findings. The data tells stories our minds prefer to avoid.

Until next time, have a M.A.G.I.C. Week,

Brian