Be More Productive with the Rule of 3
Sabeena Bubber • January 26, 2016
This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Chris Bailey on Oct 28th 2015. Chris is a self-proclaimed Jedi Master at A Life of Productivity where he blogs about being productive.
FOR SOME STRANGE REASON, OUR BRAIN IS WIRED TO THINK IN THREES.
HERE’S THE RULE OF 3:
- At the start of every morning, fast-forward to the end of the day and ask: When the day is done, what three things will I want to have accomplished?
- Do the same at the start of every week.
- It fits with the way we think. For some reason that I haven’t been able to figure out, from childhood our brain is wired to think in threes.
- It’s hard to keep in mind what’s important. While you won’t remember a whole laundry list of things to do when you’re in the trenches, you’ll remember your three intentions.
- You decide what you don’t By picking the three main things you want to accomplish that day, you have taken the time to separate what’s important from what isn’t.
- It only takes a minute. For every minute you spend using the Rule of 3, you gain back at least 10 minutes of productivity.
- It helps you work more deliberately. Productivity is the process of working more deliberately, with intention. The Rule of 3 helps you to step back, determine what’s important, and then reflect throughout the day on whether you’re spending your time on the right things. The intention behind your actions is like the shaft behind an arrowhead. I haven’t found a better rule for setting intentions every day.
- The rule lets you consider your limits. Each day you only have so much time, attention, and energy. Productivity is a process of understanding your constraints. The Rule of 3 helps you think about how much want to accomplish, and then, over time adjust to how much you actually can accomplish once you better understand your limits. At first, I overestimated how much I could get done when defining my three things; later I underestimated what I was capable of. Finally I settled into an equilibrium where I understood how much I could do every day. That awareness has become, as Steve Jobs might say, insanely valuable.
I’ve found the exact same thing.
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Sabeena Bubber is a 2026 Canadian Mortgage Hall of Fame inductee, recognized for mortgage industry leadership, client service, and community impact.
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