A while back, I had a client in Salt Lake City who owned an advertising agency, that I was doing a 2-day intensive with. When we started on Day 1, he gave me a list of nearly 30 things he wanted fixed in two days.
I told him to put away his list and forget about it. Instead of talking about the list or strategy or tactics, we talked about the nature of life. Where thoughts come from. The mechanics of fear. Life taking care of life.
At the end of two days, I asked him to look at his list. He laughed out loud and said, "It's all bullshit!"
We all tend to believe that everything we are doing is important and has to be done. And more generally, we believe that everything we believe must be correct. He went on to execute on bigger, better ideas and made more money. He went from having no free time to playing the guitar 2 hours every night, which, of course, improved his relationship with his young daughter. And he regained the sense of calm that had always been there, just slightly obscured by his bullshit list.
Sometimes the best way to get through your to-do list is to just rip it up.