This is a great essay indeed. I agree with you completely in regard to priorities. Also, when you say:

No dates. I’ve got to be pissing off productivity nerds now. I don’t track due dates, either. I fully scrub my to-do list every day, which means I’m constantly making real-time calls regarding scheduling tasks.

I think this is the true key of the whole matter. When I changed my way of organising tasks to this kind of date-less model, my productivity experienced a sudden, perceptible boost.

Take care,

Rick