Simple, I don’t. I play whatever I feel like playing, sometimes I stick with it, sometimes I start again after a year and well sometimes, I never touch that game again.

I don’t have a backlog, I have a collection.

I’ve accepted the fact that sometimes It is ok to let a game unfinished. If I had enough with a game in my backlog and I don’t want to play it anymore, I stop and play a new one, the game is « done ». If I finish then the game was a really good one !
Careful with forcing yourself to play !

The only game in my backlog is the Final Fantasy VII Remake and my strategy for clearing my backlog is “when my kids are sufficiently independent”. Right now that is not even a little bit a possibility.

If I spend more than 5 minutes trying to decide what to play, I use one of the Steam game pickers and just go with it.

I install all the games I have purchased but did not play. If I run out of storage, that absolutely means I shouldn’t purchase new games.

Luckily that hasn’t been the issue. Ever since doing this I’ve gone through my backlog and played a lot of games I had, and I’m close to being done. This summer sale will be my first time in a while to purchase a lot of games.

I clear my mind of the concept of a backlog, and embrace the idea that games are for my entertainment - thus if I am not currently feeling entertained, I can put the game down and not play it without guilt.

TL:DR; There is no backlog.