Here’s a little game you can play to encourage yourself to do the stuff that really matters.
Write a list of the things you hope to have done by the end of the day. Make sure to identify how you will know when you have done each task.
Then allocate points to each task according to a table of values. You can make up your own table, but here’s one for starters:
The Current Initiative: minus 25 points if you don’t work on it.
Major Projects: plus 20 points each
Lesser Projects: plus 10 points each
Routine Tasks: plus 5 points each
Tasks not on the list: 0 points.
How you define the difference between Major, Lesser and Routine projects/tasks is up to you, but it’s important to be consistent. The Current Initiative is one project selected in advance - note that you score minus points for not doing it, rather than plus points for doing it. This is because the idea behind the Current Initiative is that you do some work on it every day until it is completed (according to your definition of “completed”).
At the end of the day add up the points for the tasks you have done (according to your definition of “done”) and record the total for the day.
Each day try to beat your best total so far.