Draw the line after item 3 — peak attention hours go above the line, everything below gets leftovers or explicit deferral

Why This Is a Rule

Warren Buffett's "5/25 rule" (identify 25 goals, circle the top 5, avoid the remaining 20 at all costs) captures the principle: the items below the line are more dangerous than no list at all because they create the illusion of progress while consuming resources that should go to the top items.

Drawing the line after 3 items (rather than 5 or 7) reflects the reality of peak attention: most people have 3-5 hours of peak cognitive capacity per day (Ericsson's deliberate practice research suggests 4 hours max). Three priority items × 1-2 peak hours each fills the peak capacity window. Adding a 4th priority to peak hours means either diluting attention across all four (each gets less than optimal focus) or pushing the 4th item to non-peak hours (where it gets degraded performance).

The "below the line" treatment is explicitly binary: Leftover capacity (if peak items finish early, remaining energy goes to below-the-line items — but they never get peak hours). Explicit deferral (items are consciously deferred to next week/month/quarter, not vaguely "on the list"). This prevents the common failure where below-the-line items accumulate silently, consuming anxiety without receiving attention.

When This Fires

• After completing any prioritization exercise (Break 'everything is priority 1' paralysis with pairwise comparison: 'if I could only accomplish one in 90 days, which?') that produces a ranked list
• When ranking exists but attention allocation doesn't match — "I know my priorities but work on items #7 and #9"
• During weekly planning when assigning peak hours to priorities
• Complements Block Q2 tasks on the calendar with specific day+hour BEFORE touching urgent tasks — scheduling converts intention into commitment (Q2 calendar blocking) with the attention-allocation mechanism

Common Failure Mode

Treating the ranked list as a sequential work order: "I'll work through all 10 items in order." This distributes peak attention across 10 items, giving each 30 minutes of degraded focus rather than 3 items 2 hours of deep focus. The line isn't "do these first" — it's "only these get your best attention."

The Protocol

(1) After ranking (Break 'everything is priority 1' paralysis with pairwise comparison: 'if I could only accomplish one in 90 days, which?'), draw a visible line after item 3. (2) Items 1-3 (above the line): allocate your peak attention hours — the 3-5 hours where your cognitive performance is highest (usually morning for most people). These items receive deep focus, protected time blocks (Block Q2 tasks on the calendar with specific day+hour BEFORE touching urgent tasks — scheduling converts intention into commitment), and priority in scheduling. (3) Items 4+ (below the line): receive only leftover capacity — the hours after peak attention is spent (low-energy afternoons, inter-meeting gaps). Alternatively: explicitly defer to next review period. (4) The line is the commitment allocation device: you're committing your best resource (peak attention) to your best priorities (top 3). Everything else gets what's left. (5) Review the line weekly: has a below-the-line item become more important than an above-the-line item? If so → swap them. The line position is dynamic, but the rule (only 3 above) is fixed.