Pruning is important.

I have tomatoes growing on my deck. In order for those plant to bear a more significant amount of fruit, I cut away the branches that don't have flowers. No flowers, no tomatoes. And at the end of the growing season, I want tomatoes.

There are two ways to prune a tomato.

• Remove the suckers while they're small.
• Prune the suckers when they're big - but with a blade. And hope slicing and dicing don't damage the plant.

I prune my plants.

And I prune my projects.

There are two ways to prune projects.

• Remove the suckers when they're small.
• Cut the suckers out when they're big - but with a blade and hopes that the slicing and dicing don't damage my truly important projects.

If your project list is so large there's no time to do the important, it's time for some pruning.

Learn the art of "no" and get rid of the suckers when they're small.

Prune for the fruit you want to produce.