To get your audience to remember your writing, storytelling, and communications, it’s essential to use patterns.

The power of three. Patterns help us remember things and process information quickly.

We remember things longer with patterns.

Three is the smallest number needed to make a pattern.

Things come in three.

• Compelling stories use the power of three: beginning, middle, and end.
• Comedians use three to get a laugh. They set the stage, build anticipation, and then break the pattern with a punchline.
• Great conversationalists use the three-question rule to make the other person feel heard, valued, and respected.

You can find the rule of three everywhere.

Here are just three examples:

• Stories: The Three Musketeers. The Three Little Pigs. Three Blind Mice.
• Movies and TV: The Three Stooges. The Three Amigos. Harry, Hermione, and Ron (Characters in Harry Potter).
• Marketing: Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Faster, Lighter, Thinner.

When you use the power of three, you can turn the mundane into something memorable. The rule of three works because it is concise, unique, and sticky.

Make your writing more memorable with the power of three

Let’s discuss how the power of three can jazz up your writing, storytelling, and communication.

It can make your content stronger. This approach can help you effectively engage your audience.

1. Style

There are three main ways you can use style to improve your writing.

Different perspectives

The first way is to show your audience how three characters in your story view the situation differently.

This helps the audience understand the key takeaways. They are more likely to be drawn to one character over another.

Nonetheless, they enjoy seeing how the characters interact.

Tempo

The second way is to play on cadence. You can emphasize specific vital messages in your writing. You can group three sentences, phrases, or words.

For example, Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.”

Tongue twister

The third way is to have the words start with the same letter.

For example, one of the favorite tongue twisters for children:

“I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream!”

Often used as tongue-twisters, alliteration is a terrific technique to emphasize important ideas (and super-savvy to use in subheads).

2. Formatting Ideas

Start with three ideas and then support each concept with a story, examples, statistics, and famous quotes.

If you have more than three ideas, group them into categories under the three main ideas. It’s essential to stick with three main messages or ideas.

• To enhance the structure of your ideas, use lists and bullet points.
• Ask questions that prompt readers to think about their own thoughts.

Stick to three of each of these. This will give you a framework, so you don’t add too much or too little.

Additionally, write paragraphs with only three sentences.

Also, avoid using three words to convey a single idea.

For example, you say bright, warm, and sunny. You can learn from famous speeches on how to use three words.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

This is the first line of a speech by Mark Antony in Julius Caesar’s play. It was written by William Shakespeare, often referred to as England’s national poet.

The line occurs in Act III, scene II. It is one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines.

3. Description

Another way to use the power of three is with adjectives.

Pick three adjectives to describe a topic. Write a story about that topic using this technique.

For example, Steve Jobs used this approach to describe the iPad 2 launch. He said it is faster, thinner, and lighter.

The media picked up these three adjectives. It was a big win for Apple from a marketing perspective.

This communicated why the iPad was different. It highlighted why the iPad was better than the original iPad.

Other good examples of descriptions are:

• Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll, a 1977 music single by Ian Dury, a British singer-songwriter and actor
• Truth, Justice, and the American Way, a catch-phrase of the comic-book character Superman
• Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence

Bringing it all together

To make your writing more memorable, use the power of three. Remember that style, formatting ideas, and description can help you.

Your brain likes patterns. The smallest pattern is three. This is how humans typically process information.

“If you want something stuck in someone’s heads, put it in a sequence of three.” — Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger

Use the power of three to make your writing more memorable for your audience.

Three things together are more engaging, effective, and memorable.

The brain wants to organize, comprehend, and remember.

It’s okay if you don’t get your writing right the first two times because the third time’s the charm.

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