Draw the line after item 3 — peak attention hours go above…

When This Fires

• After completing any prioritization exercise (Break 'everything is priority 1' paralysis with pairwise…) 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… (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…), 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…), 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.