This is a possible mode of congnitive incapacitation when, given a sufficent number of problems or people "screaming" at you, you end up effectively incapacitated, chasing your own tail.
In mathematics, at least the more "normal" kind, A > B > C => A > C and there is no ambiguity about it.
In life, and in psychology, it may not always be the case.
It is possible that A > B and B > C and C > A.
How ?
The "importance" of things is relative and dynamic.
It's what "screams" the loudest + the last. ( Including people that scream, the FFMs, the EVPs ; or problems, things, deadlines, etc. )
Each scream overrides the last one, and one shifts attention.
Buridan's donkey got nothing on this - it becomes a Buridan's hamster in a wheel.
Given enough "screaming" "priorities", one's efficiency and one's progress in staying consistently on any one issue and addressing it can become nil.
Also, discretionary, holistic, longer-term tasks like maintenance go out the window, and this produces additional failures down the road.