juliet

Have you looked at (or heard of) David Allen's "Getting Things Done"? 43folder has an handy collection of links to articles about the method, including an introduction.

I have adopted much of it since autumn 2006. Although I can't claim to be a paragon of the approach: I have found much of it useful. The key useful tools I have adopted are

• an easily-visible list of "next actions" (which are clear, physical actions: "decide about X" doesn't really count, while "Google for information about X" or "phone A about X" does)
• a physical tray (and an email folder) of "next action" items where I have already decided what the next action is, and just have to do it
• a separate physical tray (and my email INBOX) of items which I must still process - either deciding on action, filing, discarding

And one thing which he advises against is a daily "to-do" list (beyond the hard actions that have to be done that day, e.g. appointments). Instead, he advises having the list of Next Actions and identifying what one is best-placed to do in the current context (e.g. where you are, whether you're in a mood for detailed thought or mindless chores, etc.

There is some more to his approach, but not vast amounts - I'd describe it more as a framework than a life-dominating straitjacket); I've found it useful, so you may like to take a look.

The Guardian had a couple of items in autumn 2005: a feature and an interview with Allen.