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If something new comes up, I add it to the end of the list and dot it.
If there are 7 or 8 things that must be done today, then I start the day by clearing all existing dots, and scanning through the list for these particular items. Or if they are already on my mind, I just write them at the end of the list and give them a dot.
This is all fully within the rules. (1) You can erase all the dots if the current selection has gone bad. (2) Each one of these urgent items screams at me, "Yes, do me before X!", so I'm not breaking the selection criterion.
I suppose this could break down if you have 7 or 8 things that must be done urgently today, but you aren't actually aware of that fact when you start the day. If that kind of thing happens to you, I'd suggest establishing the habit of clearing all your dots and doing a full scan, every day at the beginning of the day. This is also fully within the rules.
1. First, working the system now for several weeks has really helped me stay on top of things so the urgent things aren't taking over.
2. Secondly, related to this, I find the core question is really important and I need to remind myself of it from time to time: "What do I really want to do before I do x?" is important for prioritizing properly. I think the habit of just marking stuff off because I feel like doing them is a bad habit held over from AF days (even though it worked for AF). The real question is slightly different - not "what do I feel like doing" but "what do I want to do before I do x." (is it "want" or "need?" I forget from the instructions.)
3. Thirdly, I have no qualms about just doing the urgent thing when I need to regardless of the list, if I need to do it. I'm not obsessive compulsive about the list. Although, there's also nothing wrong with writing the urgent item at the end of my list and putting a dot on it and just starting the chain over again. Then once that item is finished I'm right back where I left off, but I think sometimes you have to do the smart thing and just do what needs to be done at that time.
4. Fourthly, when my life starts to get busy with lots of stuff and I can feel "hairiness" coming on, I start keeping my chains shorter. "What do I need to do before I do item 1?" "Well, I really need to get item 4 done, but I better leave it at that, because more stuff keeps coming in that might be more important." It's like I say to myself "i don't want to get in a situation where I have a dozen things to do before I get back to the end of the list because lots more stuff is going to get added that I might need to do." So I just plan on two or three things before recreating a new chain. Then, the odd time I'll have a pretty free day and just knock of a whole bunch of stuff with a chain of 12 or 15 items. Feels great, too!
Another benefit is I get a feel for the coming day. Like Paul finds, on busy days I only want to do urgent things. Unfortunately, in the morning I sometimes need that extra step to realize that it is a busy day.
When I form my ladders, I ask 'what do I want to do before x?' which really means something like: what is more urgent than x? I then rush through it. I used to be against rushing things rather than taje my time but I have realized that I am surprisingly pretty good at it and the results I produce aren't as bad as I assume they would be.
Also similar to Lillian , there are times i just extract those urgent items onto a different list, break them into equal divisions/parts using lines, then unleash some Autofocus on it until happy.