Why Saving Your Sanity Requires Embracing an Infinite To-Do List
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My solution is extreme time boxing. Every Sunday, I sit down and time box the next week. Work and personal stuff goes into the same calendar. I've learned to keep enough slack to not get stressed out. I also know how much unplanned time I need to coordinate with co-workers.
It's kind of absurd that less freedom when to do things, gives me more happiness.
In the beginning I thought that this cannot work because sometimes you just need uninterrupted time to finish something. However, such uninterrupted long spans don't exist anyways for many people. There are stand-ups at work, you have appointments with some of your team members and at 5pm you need to pick up your kids.
First, the level of uncertainty is very high right now, and I can't afford to have a fixed calendar for the whole week. In fact, it's pretty rare that I manage to stick to the same schedule for even half a day. :X Also, it's often extremely difficult to estimate how long certain tasks will take because they involve both spending time with people (who, by definition, are highly unpredictable) and thinking strategically (which can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours).
That said, I do relate to the idea that "less freedom" can lead to "more happiness"! I try to apply this as much as possible when it makes sense, especially in my personal life.
The only thing that I must add is explicitly listing 'strategic reserve' time as an 'important' task - otherwise "triaging" can have you focusing solely on short-term priorities (e.g. "emergencies") and never giving you the space and time to consider the larger picture.
As for the Ivy Lee method, I'm not familiar with it, but I'll definitely check it out!