I'll second that, ShawnMarie -- thank you! Your response helped me do quite a bit of brainstorming and problem solving this morning. While I still have some work to do (i.e. figuring out what sort of trusted system will be fast/flexible enough to work with), your points have been extremely helpful.

-- Getting a clear "Top 5" (or 6 or 7) for the week list
-- Operate from a zero base daily, at the end of the day (instead of trying to clear email and other inboxes 20 times a day ... after all, when was the last time I received an email that couldn't wait 7 hours at most for a response?)
-- Training myself to make decisions up front (sometimes I just put things on a list to get them out of sight)

Also, rereading Elana's post, I really like the 4 points for blasting through piles of meeting notes. And the reminder that "sometimes what you've promised is just to yourself."

So, the murk's still there, but there's a light at the bottom of the pond. Thanks again for the encouragement!

DH