Accomplish More With Your Master List

People become overwhelmed by having too much to do. They have confused their master list with their to-do list. Your to-do list should only ...

Steps

Create your master list - this is simply a brain dump of everything you want/have to do. It can contain 20, 30, 50+ items.
Create your daily 'to-do' list. This is the list of things you want to achieve today. Items on this list may come from your master list or may be a result of events from the previous day.
Use your 'to-do' list to schedule out your day so you can take the actions needed to accomplish your goals.
Review each item on your 'to-do' list and make sure that you are working on both important-but not urgent items as well as urgent items. (Working on the former is the only way to ensure true life success)
Eliminate anything from your 'to-do' list that will not help you to get to where you want within the next month, year or five years.
Understand that your daily 'to-do' list should change because of the differing priorities that each day brings.
Keep the list of what you need to accomplish today short, so you don't become overwhelmed, but at the end of the day feel like you have been successful.
When scheduling your day include down time to allow for unexpected events that come up.
Celebrate at the end of each day when you have completed the items on your to-do list.
Review your master list at the end of each day and ask yourself "What on this list needs my attention within the next 24 hours so that it doesn't become a critical item?"

Write down your objectives for phone calls/meetings etc to make sure you stay on track
Be wary of being caught up in the habit of reacting to urgent (generally short-term issues - e.g., phone calls/emails etc) rather than responding to important activities (generally longer term - e.g., articulating values/vision of organization)

Be careful of being reactive rather than taking control of your time. Learn to say no to people or redirect them to other more appropriate people