[ilaksh]

My solutions: be unpopular, avoid adding appointments, avoid starting new projects, don't create to-do lists. Instead of long to-do lists I just focus on prioritizing realistically and try to take care of the next few really important things in a thorough way. And I try to make sure feedback loops are relatively tight so I can keep reprioritizing correctly.

The lack of popularity is partly on purpose and partly just works out that way for some reason.

Another thing I do is I avoid scheduling appointments or starting new projects.

So the vast majority of my emails are spam that I can ignore.

Obviously many people's lives will make these strategies difficult to implement.

[nowaq]

I love your strategy. I employ similar one whenever I can. "Remove myself from the equation" is a good mantra to go by.

I'd add that priorities are key to being productive but not overwhelmed.