Jump-Start a Dead Action List by Eliminating Legacies

Feel like your Getting-Things-Done-style next-action list is slipping away from you? Having a hard time getting through the list because it’s feeling overwhelming? The Tools for Thought blog suggests taking a hard-eyed look at what tasks or projects might be irrelevant without your noticing the change:

Maybe an increase in petrol prices has made that road trip less appealing than it seemed a month ago. Maybe it’s becoming clearer that upgrading a piece of software that works perfectly fine is just creating activity for its own sake.

The post suggests a number of other reviews to undertake to fix up your list. How do you keep your to-do list from piling up with irrelevant, or overly vague, items? Share your secret in the comments.