Two piles, and only one of them is a job

Inside the slot, it helps to sort the list into two piles.

Pile one is worries with an action available today. Book the appointment. Send the email. Ask the question once. Those are not worries, they are jobs, and they come off the list by being done.

Pile two is everything else. The things that might happen, the things other people decide, the things you would need a time machine for. Those stay in the slot. They are not solved and they are not meant to be.

Most people find pile two is far bigger than they thought, and that most of their day was being spent on it.