Rocky IV, Indiana Jones IV, Superman IV, The Star Wars prequels. Know what these movies have in common? They’re all prime examples of movies that came out when the creators should have simply stopped at three. 

Three is a magic number (yeah it is).  

It’s no coincidence that the number three is so widespread throughout the most memorable stories, speeches, quotes and jokes. It comes down to how the human mind processes information and content. We recognize, categorize and remember by patterns and groupings. And three is the smallest, and optimal, number of elements to create a pattern or group.

We see it, and we recall it everywhere: 

“Government of the people, for the people and by the people.” 

“Faith, hope and charity.” 

“Truth, justice and the American way.” 

“Stop, drop and roll.” 

“I came. I saw. I conquered.” 

“Beginning. Middle. End.” 

“High. Medium. Low.” 

“Lucky Day, Ned Nederlander and Dusty Bottoms.”  

We call it: The Rule of Three. 

If you want something to stick – If you want your team or your audience to remember a series of ideas, values, tenets or behaviors keep that number at three – no more, no less. It is the ideal number for an audience to understand your message. Anything more than that, and you’re lucky if they remember anything at all.  

When I was leading the FedEx brand promise work, we defined an outstanding FedEx experience by three behaviors that all team members could execute, no matter their role in the company:
1. Put my customers first.
2. Keep it simple.
3. Stay one step ahead. 

I fought hard to ensure we kept it at those three behaviors. No, I didn’t whine and stomp my feet. I shared research like this and this and this. 

When I teach clients about consistency, they learn:
1. Consistency builds trust 
2. Consistency builds loyalty 
3. Consistency builds value  

When I work with clients on their personal brand, we limit their brand attributes to only three. 

The Rule of Three works. It’ll help you with your communications. It’ll bring clarity to what you want people to remember. It’ll help you get support for what you want done. It’ll stick with your audience. 

Want to learn more about the Rule of Three and how you can use it with your team and audience? My favorite communications expert, Carmine Gallo, covers them extensively in his books: 

The Storyteller’s Secret: Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t 

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience