When I read your piece I couldn't stop thinking of a kanban board used together with agile methodology. It works pretty well with Trello. In that way you can have your "master to do list" as a backlog and work with weekly or biweekly sprints with specific themes and achievable goals, setting clear d.o.d.s (definition of done) and desired outcomes. The key to not get overwhelmed is to define the scope and limitations of the sprint and not go overboard. It's mostly used for product development but works pretty well in any other project. Good luck in 2020!!