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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