Ironically, I first misread your argument (1) as an argument IN FAVOR of to-do lists, because to-do lists have at least the merit that they preserve the (import

Ironically, I first misread your argument (1) as an argument IN FAVOR of to-do lists, because to-do lists have at least the merit that they preserve the (important, not urgent) items for the next review opportunity. The phenomenon you describe, unimportant short term tasks crowding out important long term tasks, is not so much caused by KEEPING to do lists, but by not properly MANAGING them. I don't see how one would become better at managing priorities by NOT having a reasonably accurate overall picture of what the tasks at hand are. [Disclaimer: As is probably evident from my argument, I'm a somewhat recent convert to the "Getting Things Done" methodology]