The Rule of Three
By Michael Angier
The United States Marine Corp believes strongly in what they call
"The Rule of Three". They've found that implementing this rule
saves lives and gets more done faster and more efficiently.
An article on The Corp in INC. magazine states, "The rule dictates
that a person should limit his or her attention to three tasks or goals.
When applied to strategising, the rule prescribes boiling a world of
infinite possibilities down to three alternative courses of action.
Anything more and a marine can become overextended and confused. The
marines experimented with a rule of four and found that effectiveness
plummeted."
I've always believed that three is a powerful number. We find it in
some very significant places. The most powerful physical structure is a
triangle or pyramid. In fact, it's the building block of Buckminster
Fuller's geodesic domes and the Great Pyramids of Egypt. For
Christians--it's the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And then, of
course, we have Mind, Body, Spirit. Three is a powerful number
metaphysically--a number of completion.
As we become immersed in the ocean of information, possibilities,
directions and the like, it becomes even more important for us to focus on
the things that are truly important to us--the things that will make a
difference in the quality of our lives.
Three things can easily be remembered. Any more than that and retention
suffers. We can all sharpen our focus and get better results by using the
Rule of Three in our daily lives.
Here are a Few Ideas List the three most important values in your life.
What's really important to you? If you make this list, you'll place
yourself in the top one percent of all the people on the planet because
very few ever do this. Your decisions will become infinitely easier
because your values are clear.
What are your three primary missions? These are different than goals.
Goals can be measured. They can be completed. A mission is your vision of
something that you'll never say is done … at least not in this lifetime.
Make a list of your three most important goals. It's great to have lots
of goals but which ones are worthy of your best attention and efforts?
What three things would you like to master? Three things at which you
want to become an expert. Maybe it's speaking in public. Perhaps you want
to learn another language. Or maybe you want to become a successful
parent. It's your life and you get to decide.
By making good use of the Rule of Three, you'll sharpen your focus and
increase your effectiveness. This will help you experience greater
fulfilment in all that you do.
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