[henry]

I have tried both approaches, using due dates and using start dates. I failed at both. In both cases you end up with an ever increasing list of actions all screaming "Do me, do me" and you feel worse and worse for not doing them.

Due dates are for do or die stuff;
If I don't send in my invoice by 10am on Tuesday I'm not going to get paid and I'll starve.
Sure I'd like to put some time aside on Wednesday so I can buy that lens from BHPhoto, but will the world end if I don't?
Due dates are bad, they taunt you with all that red.

Start dates are great though. I use them all the time to hide stuff away, but they too can be abused and rendered useless. There was a page on the web (that I can't find, I'll see if I can find it and post a link) that had a great method whereby you gave each action the start date of the day that you 'wanted' to do the task. Then it had a perspective that each day would show you your days actions. But guess what? That list grew and grew just like the due date list, except it was orange!

Just because you WANT to do an action on a particular day doesn't mean you CAN. If you MUST do a task on a particular day then you SHOULD do it.