In the 7 habits of highly effective people book, this concept is nicely illustrated by a 2x2 grid with the axes "urgency" and "importance". There are a lot of

In the 7 habits of highly effective people book, this concept is nicely illustrated by a 2x2 grid with the axes "urgency" and "importance". There are a lot of urgent but unimportant tasks such as emails or letters in Napoleon's day, and those distract from the important but less urgent work (ie your job). Obviously you need to deal with the urgent AND important interruptions, and trying to find a balance is always going to be difficult when the interruptions start coming in!