SHORT & SWEET: THE RULE OF '3'

By the time you get to the end of this blog post, you will already be thinking about the next blog post you are going to read. I won't take it personally, because I don't necessarily believe its the content that has uninterested you (I hope anyways!). It is most likely because we as humans now have an attention span of only 8 seconds long! Wild, isn't it?!

Its Official-- there actually IS a Rule of 3

We wouldn't think it, but there actually is a method to the madness of why many memorable sayings, stories, and people are comprised or made up of threes, which helps people with short attention spans to remember what was said! This is officially known as the "Rule of 3."

Think of things such as the three pigs; the three mice; the three wise men; the three stooges; "beginning, middle, end"; "Sex, drugs, and Rock N Roll;" or trilogies. All of these relate back to the idea of "three."

Why only three?

The theory behind the "Rule of 3" is that people understand and are more able to remember and memorize things in three's. Its just the way our brains are wired. This can be extremely powerful to know in preparing in advance of speaking so you know how you can properly develop your script, speech, or presentation to ensure you attract the short attention spans of your audience.

How to Apply the Rule of 3

If you clearly and logically outline what you are going to say under three main ideas, headings or themes, then your audience or whomever you are speaking to/with, with be able to easily comprehend and remember what you said. Recapping at the end of a speech what those three important messages are helps your audience to remember your "take home message." And this idea can be applied to more than just speech writing/presenting-- speaking to your colleague; trying to win an argument; or emails. Really, whenever you communicate, you really should always remember and try to apply the "Rule of 3."

On the note of short attention spans and how the internet (most likely) is helping to shorten our attention span, the following is a funny video I thought perfectly depicts just how short we've become with our attention spans. I'm happy to report that I may not be the only person that ends up surfing something on the internet, wondering afterwards how I even got there in the first place.

P.S. Did you notice the "Rule of 3" applied to this blog post? :) Hope you followed along until the end!