So, with the tasks that I enter into RTM, they seem to fall into two timing categories.

1) Do ON - Those tasks which I need to do at a certain time, but I cannot do UNTIL that time. For example "Pay Credit card bill". This must be paid on the 25th of each month. However if I paid it sooner, then my invoice wouldn't have been generated and the funds would be treated as previous month. These tasks cannot be actioned until a certain date, but if I'm busy, they might slip a day or so.

2) Due BY - These are pieces of work which must be focussed upon and delivered by a certain date. For example "TPS Report" must be completed by the 2nd of the month.

All of these tasks are entered into RTM, however I don't need to be reminded that I need to pay my credit card, until the day it is due. Yet, I need to to have it forefront of my mind that I need to be working hard on the TPS Report.

How did I combat this?

Firstly I created a tag called "Do_on" for those tasks which are needed "On a certain date, and not before".
Then I created a Smart List, which would show the 'Do ON' tasks for today, or overdue:

(tag:do_on (due:tod or dueBefore:now))

I also saved this SmartList as "Do_on"


Secondly, I wanted to get a view of all tasks that were Due BY a certain date and those Due ON or Before the current date ... but not those Due ON upcoming dates. For this I created a Smart List:

((not tag:do_on) or (list:do_on))

Now I can look at my task list without the noise of tasks which cannot be actioned until a point in future.

Hope you find this helpful.