[kchr]

I don't get why checkboxes would lead to being counterproductive. Personally, I try to estimate time needed for a given task when adding it and assign to a project/label. Then, each morning, I decide which project to work on and filter out any other projects. Now I can start working, and I usually pick a couple of small ones just to get stuff out of the way - these tasks are often about replying to e-mail or delegating to others, and because of that they are often more time/deadlne based (do it asap) than the bigger ones (research this, implement that etc).

[bachmeier]

I think you're going beyond the todo list as it's normally used. The purpose of the other list is to make you selective about what goes on the todo list. What you describe more or less does the same thing as the other list.