Knowing what the one most important thing for you to accomplish in the day gets you in decision mode. You are able to become singularly focused and cut out the extra noise and distractions.
The most important thing does not always have to be work related. For example, today it was very important for me to go with my son Tawfiq to his University and finalize a few things. I was able to tackle this in the morning, while keeping everything else pending. I finished before noon, leaving me the rest of the day to be totally focused on work.
When you are not sure of what is most important, you easily get distracted. This leads to a lot of activity, but not much impact on the things most important to you.
How about you? Do you know what is the one most important thing you need to finish today?