The rule of three works in situations across disciplines. Interesting applications among what Brainzooming encompasses are in both innovation and humor.
For instance, many innovation exercises involve:
1. Introducing a current situation
2. Twisting or changing the view of the current situation by altering your perspective
3. Capturing new ideas through having looked at things from this new perspective
The formula in humor looks similar with a slight shift:
1. Introduce a familiar situation
2. Reinforce the situation to create a pattern
3. Change, twist, or break the pattern in an unexpected way to trigger laughter
A more general approach in applying the rule of three to list making, story telling, or information sharing could work like this:
1. State something evident or common
2. Follow item #1 with a related, but slightly modified second item. The modification could be that #2 is more powerful, stronger, or unusual but is still consistent with #1.
3. Follow item #2 with a third item that uses the modifier for #2 in an even more exaggerated fashion – even more powerful, strong, or unusual.
Need more? Click on these three links to see an overview, examples, and how you can better use the rule of three in your communication.
Get it? Got it? Good!
