I don't want to do: How important is this? How urgent is this? As in, how quickly -- if at all -- does this need to be done? Will the storm pass before it matters that I've done it? How visible is this? Who is this important to? Is that person important to me? What's the likelihood that said important person will forget about this before it's a non-issue? Keep this mental checklist handy. We're about to make two lists: our to-do list, and our "sure yeah I'm working on that" list. The former is composed of items and projects you're actually working on. The latter, not so much. Photo by Christopher Whalen . Your to-do list is the list of things that you're already familiar with. The things you have to do, like pick up the dry cleaning, work on your pet project, study for the big test -- all the things you need and want to do. These are the things that excite you, and the projects you get at work that are really interesting and that you want to tackle. If you have items that are important, or urgent (that is, they have actual deadlines and the work required to meet them means you need to start,) put them on the actual to-do list. If you've been assigned something visible, drop it here too. Even if it's something you're not thrilled with, visible work is the best work when it comes to keeping up appearances. If it's