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Rule of Three
Rule of Three
Rule of Three
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Overview

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

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc omni virtuti vitium contrario nomine opponitur. Facile est hoc cernere in primis puerorum aetatulis. Sed quae tandem ista ratio est? Summum a vobis bonum voluptas dicitur. Bestiarum vero nullum iudicium puto. Quis est, qui non oderit libidinosam, protervam adolescentiam?

Polemoni et iam ante Aristoteli ea prima visa sunt, quae paulo ante dixi. Ab his oratores, ab his imperatores ac rerum publicarum principes extiterunt. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Bona autem corporis huic sunt, quod posterius posui, similiora.

Etenim semper illud extra est, quod arte comprehenditur. Quae quo sunt excelsiores, eo dant clariora indicia naturae. Quos quidem tibi studiose et diligenter tractandos magnopere censeo. Si ad corpus pertinentibus, rationes tuas te video compensare cum istis doloribus, non memoriam corpore perceptarum voluptatum; Dici enim nihil potest verius.

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Actionable Takeaways
  • Weave the Rule of Three into your communication. 

Practi ...

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Quamquam in hac divisione rem ipsam prorsus probo, elegantiam desidero. Varietates autem iniurasque fortunae facile veteres philosophorum praeceptis instituta vita superabat. Aperiendum est igitur, quid sit voluptas; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quid, cum fictas fabulas, e quibus utilitas nulla elici potest, cum voluptate legimus?

Scio enim esse quosdam, qui quavis lingua philosophari possint; Eorum enim omnium multa praetermittentium, dum eligant aliquid, quod sequantur, quasi curta sententia; Equidem soleo etiam quod uno Graeci, si aliter non possum, idem pluribus verbis exponere. Oratio me istius philosophi non offendit; Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem. Quod cum dixissent, ille contra. Incommoda autem et commoda-ita enim estmata et dustmata appello-communia esse voluerunt, paria noluerunt. Sed nonne merninisti licere mihi ista probare, quae sunt a te dicta?

Quid est, quod ab ea absolvi et perfici debeat? Vitae autem degendae ratio maxime quidem illis placuit quieta. Qui enim voluptatem ipsam contemnunt, iis licet dicere se acupenserem maenae non anteponere. Dulce amarum, leve asperum, prope longe, stare movere, quadratum rotundum.

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. 

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This model will help you to:

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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. 

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