By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer

“The tragedy of life is not in failure, but complacency.”

-Benjamin Mays

The “Rule of Three” is a principle in writing and public speaking that states that ideas presented in threes are inherently more interesting, more enjoyable and more memorable for your audience. Information grouped into threes will stick in our heads better than other sized groups.

For lexophiles, there are two single words for the Rule of Three.

The first is tricolon, derived from the Greek tria (three) and kolon (clause or member). The idea is old; Aristotle described it in his book Rhetoric. The three words or phrases have different meanings but are grouped together for a common purpose.

Some medical examples:
Airway, breathing, circulation
Oriented to person, place and time.

The second word is hendiatris, derived from the Greek hen dia treis (one through three), in which three words are used to convey a single concept. For example, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar says:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.

Why does this rule work so well? One theory is that our minds naturally organize information into patterns so that they can process and retain information. The smallest number in a pattern is three, hence the Rule of Three.

Leaders throughout history have used the tricolon to communicate, inspire and motivate those around them. There is another variation on the Rule of Three used by leaders to focus their strategic energy and achieve success on what matters most. To be effective, we need to regularly decide what our top three priorities are for focusing our discretionary energy. Write them down, talk about them, and remember them when you can take a break from the myriad of busy tasks (email, meetings, patient care) that take up so many hours each day.

Focusing on your top three priorities requires discipline to defer lower priorities to later, or perhaps delegate them to someone else. This discipline also forces us to be clear on the criteria for prioritizing the highest priorities, a process sometimes called “remembering our north star,” the guiding light in the darkness which is steadfast, and present, night after night.

So take a moment to remember the principles that guide you, and set your top three priorities for the next week/month/year. Then, as you seek to inspire others to work on these priorities, consider how rules of three can help you.