---
title: "The Avoidance List"
description: "Warren Buffett's method of prioritising desires, as passed on by Dan Babcock."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# The Avoidance List

> Warren Buffett's method of prioritising desires, as passed on by Dan Babcock.

Alex Banayan's framework, from The Third Door, pp. 69 to 133.

Framework 6 of 11 from [The Third Door](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/the-third-door/index.md) by Alex Banayan. Category: Life and thinking.

## The steps

1. **List twenty five things.** Write what you want to accomplish in the next twelve months.
2. **Circle five.** Choose the five you would do if you could only do five in the next three months.
3. **Label the lists.** Copy the five onto a second sheet as the Priority List and call the other twenty the Avoidance List.
4. **Avoid the twenty.** Stay away from the Avoidance List until the top five are done.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: Step 3: Find Your Inside Man, pp. 69–133

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/the-third-door/the-avoidance-list-dark.png