Save to My Latticework unsave

Rule of Three
Rule of Three
Rule of Three
save0 saved view11.2K views
Share this with your network
Share this with your network
Overview

Was De La Soul right, is three really the magic number? Dive into this model and decide for yourself. 

< ...

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Qui autem de summo bono dissentit de tota philosophiae ratione dissentit. Virtutis, magnitudinis animi, patientiae, fortitudinis fomentis dolor mitigari solet. Sed tamen est aliquid, quod nobis non liceat, liceat illis. Nihil minus, contraque illa hereditate dives ob eamque rem laetus.

Nam memini etiam quae nolo, oblivisci non possum quae volo. Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Respondeat totidem verbis. Sed quid minus probandum quam esse aliquem beatum nec satis beatum? Fatebuntur Stoici haec omnia dicta esse praeclare, neque eam causam Zenoni desciscendi fuisse. Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias; Illud dico, ea, quae dicat, praeclare inter se cohaerere. Bork Quod, inquit, quamquam voluptatibus quibusdam est saepe iucundius, tamen expetitur propter voluptatem.

Ut pulsi recurrant? Idque testamento cavebit is, qui nobis quasi oraculum ediderit nihil post mortem ad nos pertinere? Ne amores quidem sanctos a sapiente alienos esse arbitrantur. Simus igitur contenti his. Nunc haec primum fortasse audientis servire debemus. Si longus, levis dictata sunt. Nam nec vir bonus ac iustus haberi debet qui, ne malum habeat, abstinet se ab iniuria. An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse?

Share this model with your network to be smarter, faster, together!
Actionable Takeaways
  • Weave the Rule of Three into your communication. 

Practi ...

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Si verbum sequimur, primum longius verbum praepositum quam bonum. Quis est, qui non oderit libidinosam, protervam adolescentiam? Qui autem voluptate vitam effici beatam putabit, qui sibi is conveniet, si negabit voluptatem crescere longinquitate? Falli igitur possumus. Fortasse id optimum, sed ubi illud: Plus semper voluptatis? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Videamus animi partes, quarum est conspectus illustrior;

Sed haec omittamus; Negat enim summo bono afferre incrementum diem. Quam tu ponis in verbis, ego positam in re putabam. Duo enim genera quae erant, fecit tria. Omnis enim est natura diligens sui.

Ergo hoc quidem apparet, nos ad agendum esse natos. Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Confecta res esset. Quis hoc dicit? Sed haec quidem liberius ab eo dicuntur et saepius.

Explore More
Rule of Three is featured in these playbooks:
Limitations

Overuse of any communication technique can become jarring, and the Rule of Three should simply be seen as one of the arrows in your toolkit. To that end, mixing your approach and changing the rhythm of your sentence structure is important. 

In addition to rhythm, sometimes using two examples or points can be useful to provide a binary or contrasting view rather than pointing to a pattern. 

In Practice

Martin Luther King Jr— I have a dream. 

The Rule of Three is a feature of many of King’s speeches. This site breaks down his most famous speech, and captures this key example: 

“When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Note that even the list of six items — black men and white men etc. — has been grouped in three groups of two, to maintain the rhythm of the Rule of Three. 

Build your latticework
This model will help you to:

d

Origins & Resources

Evidence of the Rule of Three can be traced back as far as Aristotle and biblical writing. Aristotle, inherently captured it in his Rules of Rhetoric, though it is unclear who formally named and identified the ‘rule’, thus we’ve left the model uncredited. 

My Notes

    Nothing here yet. Join ModelThinkers and login to be the first to comment.
Already a ModelThinkers member? Please log in here.

Oops, That’s Members’ Only!

Fortunately, it only costs US$5/month to Join ModelThinkers and access everything so that you can rapidly discover, learn, and apply the world’s most powerful ideas.

ModelThinkers membership at a glance:

Small mark
UNLOCK EVERYTHING
Access all mental models and premium content.
Small mark
BUILD YOUR LATTICEWORK
Save models to your personal list.
Small mark
QUICKLY MEMORISE MODELS
Use our Learn function to embed models to memory
Small mark
PERSONALISE MODELS
Add your own notes and reminders.
Small mark
BUILD YOUR ‘EXTERNAL BRAIN’
Discover a new idea? Capture it by adding a new model.
Small mark
JOIN THE MT COMMUNITY
Rate models, comment and access exclusive events.

“Yeah, we hate pop ups too. But we wanted to let you know that, with ModelThinkers, we’re making it easier for you to adapt, innovate and create value. We hope you’ll join us and the growing community of ModelThinkers today.”

Arun Pradhan & Shai Desai
CoFounders, ModelThinkers.

You Might Also Like:

- Actionable summaries of the world's most powerful ideas.