[GregO]

Another option might be to use flags a little differently to identify those projects which are critical to moving ahead on your primary life goals(or quarterly, yearly goals as appropriate). The tasks under those projects get the "ghost flag" and you can see which activities are truly important (although not necessarily time sensitive). This way you can balance those tasks with the urgent activities which are coming at you day-to-day. Of course the downside here is that negates the ability for folks to use flags to identify things you want to get done today.