Issue #12: Your Brain Is Lazy. Smart Leaders Use That.
Your brain isn't lazy in the "hit snooze five times" way. It's lazy in the evolutionarily brilliant way.
It doesn't want to work harder than it has to. It wants patterns it can recognize without burning extra glucose. It wants information that chunks itself.
Picture your ancestors on the savanna.
One rustling bush? Probably wind. Two rustling bushes? Interesting coincidence. Three rustling bushes? Pattern recognized. Run.
The ones who waited for a fourth data point didn't make it. You're descended from the ones whose brains said: three is enough.
And once you notice this, you can't unsee it.
Three is everywhere.
"Stop, drop, and roll." "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Friends, Romans, countrymen." "Reduce, reuse, recycle." "Eat, pray, love." "Veni, vidi, vici." "Location, location, location."
(PS, I get the irony of not providing three examples, but I really couldn't help myself.)
Different centuries. Different cultures. Same structure.
This isn't coincidence. It's cognition.
Three is the smallest number that creates a pattern. One is noise. Two is contrast. Three is meaning.
That's why stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Why music works in verse, chorus, bridge. Why jokes land on the third beat.
Your brain evolved as a pattern-matching machine. It survived by recognizing structure faster than danger could fully reveal itself.
Which brings us to the part most leaders miss.
Evolution is real… and your friend.
I deliberately call this the Power of Three, not the rule.
Rules are what you follow because someone with a red pen told you to. Power is what you wield because you understand how it works.
Back in 1956, cognitive scientist George A. Miller published The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. The takeaway most people remember: working memory can hold more than three things.
True. And also irrelevant.
Because capacity isn't the same as impact.
Seven is what the brain can hold (maybe). Three is what it remembers (definitely).
Decades of communication research—and real-world leadership experience—point to the same conclusion: when messages need to stick, fewer beats more.
Three creates rhythm. Cadence. A structure the brain can follow without strain. That's the practical takeaway for leaders and communicators.
Before your next meeting, ask: What are the three things this room needs to remember?
Before you send that all-hands email, ask: What are the three takeaways that actually matter?
Before you launch an initiative, ask: What are the three words that capture it?
Your audience's brains are already scanning for the pattern. You're not dumbing things down—you're aligning with how humans are wired to understand.
Evolution isn't working against you. It's quietly on your side.
🧂 Why The Power of Three Works
Science, people. Cognitive science… tested in boardrooms, exam rooms, and living rooms worldwide, and proven every time McDonald's makes a billion dollars off "I'm Lovin' It."
Here's why organizing your message in threes transforms how people receive, remember, and act on your ideas:
The Sweet Spot of Cognition Dr. Carmen Simon explains in Impossible to Ignore that three is the smallest number needed to create a pattern, which is how humans make meaning and decisions. It also helps the brain—which sucks up the most energy in your body—conserve some for other important work like Candy Crush.
Rhythm Creates Retention Scott Berkun notes in Confessions of a Public Speaker that when you present information in threes, you build rhythm and predictability that keeps audiences engaged. Without rhythm, ideas feel scattered. With it, even complex concepts become effortless to follow. And with rapidly depleting attention spans, engagement is at a premium.
Simplicity Signals Mastery Speakers who organize ideas into three points are judged as more confident, credible, and prepared than those who ramble through unstructured lists. The structure signals mastery before content is even evaluated. So this is like a cheat sheet to the award-winning "Fake It til You Make It" career strategy.
🍴 Try a Bite This Week
Now, the Power of Three isn't the only tool for strong communication. It works alongside other essentials like storytelling, active listening, and—most critically—actually having something worth saying in the first place.
But it is a simple tool you can turn on today. Start with one simple shift and notice what changes.
🍴 The Three-Word Challenge Take your next project, your team's mission, or even your personal career goals. Distill them into three words. Not a sentence. Not a paragraph. Three words that capture the essence. It's harder than it sounds, and that's the point.
🍴 The Power of Three Rewrite Grab your last email or memo—the one where you tried to cover everything and ended up saying nothing. Rewrite it with exactly three points. Three benefits. Three next steps. Three reasons why this matters. Your message doesn't just get shorter. It gets sharper. Clearer. Maybe even useful.
🍴 The Three-Act Storytelling Next time you're presenting a case study, project update, or quarterly review, structure it like a story: Act 1 (The Challenge), Act 2 (The Journey), Act 3 (The Outcome). People remember stories. They don't remember lists. This isn't about dumbing down complexity. It's about making complexity digestible.
💡 A Final Thought
The Power of Three isn't about simplicity for its own sake. It's about respect.
Respect for your audience's time, attention, and cognitive limits.
Respect for your own ideas—because if you can't distill them into three clear points, maybe they're not as clear as you think they are.
And respect for the human brain and all those long-lost ancestors who waited for that fourth bush rustling. (Pouring one out for you right now, homie.)
When it comes to messages that stick, more isn't better. Better is better.
And three? Well... three is just right. (Thanks, Goldilocks ;)
🌶️ Add Your Spice
When you think about the best presentations or messages you've ever heard, how many were structured in threes — and how many were just information overload?
Share it in the comments. Your insights might help someone finally break free from 20 bullets squeezed into one PowerPoint slide.
If this resonated, share it with someone who appreciates a good shortcut to being memorable.