I log my time spent on tasks at work, and over time I have noticed, there are two types of workdays.
One consists of dozens of 5-15 minute tasks, updates, small checks, comments, reviews, short meetings and other smaller tasks.
The other consists of 2–3 blocks of work for several hours, either longer meetings or focused work on larger tasks.
If you are an individual contributor, you should try to have as many as possible of the second one. Focus on small amount of tasks and get them done quickly and in a good quality.
As a top level manager you need to have many days like the first one, as you usually block others if you do not contribute with approvals, reviews and instructions to a lot of tasks.
Ideal day for me as a middle manager at a midsize company is about 50/50. A half a day of focused work or discussions on larger stuff, and half of a day catching up and getting rid of the small but important stuff.
What is your ideal mix?