The trick, of course, is to choose the small tasks which Vilfredo Pareto - he of the 80/20 Rule - would designate as among the vital few; i.e. the ones which will produce the greatest beneficial results. If you don't set such priorities, then your time may be squandered by the successful completion of work which produces relatively little progress or which merely restores the status-quo.

— Small Tasks by Michael Wade

That one is going in my DailyMuse collection.