As singles, you and I make a lot of decisions in our lives based on subliminal messages and subconsciously ingrained psychological influences. To understand one of these, the “Power of 3,” it helps if we take a step back into our early childhood.

As toddlers and pre-schoolers, we all found it very easy to concentrate on and grasp things that were organized in threes. Consider the following:
– Learning our A,B,Cs and 1,2,3s
– Choosing from chocolate, vanilla or strawberry (give us more choices at that age and we’d get confused)
– The Three Bears, Three Little Pigs and Three Billy Goats Gruff
I’m sure that if you try, you can wink, blink and nod to come up with several more.

A little later in life, we were introduced to the Holy Trinity, as well as to the concept of body, mind and spirit. While those were a bit more difficult to comprehend, we managed to rely on rock, paper and scissors to sort out any arguments we had.

So, why emphasize organizing concepts into threes? Psychologists tell us it is because we can focus on and mentally grasp things easily in bits of threes – our brains are simply trained that way. Bringing ideas or tasks together in threes fits into our comfort zone of how to organize and process our world. Adding more elements only makes our comprehension and ability to focus considerably more difficult at a subconscious level.

Think of it like being told you had to eat a watermelon. Looking at the entire watermelon and thinking about the number of bites it would take to consume makes it seem like a daunting task. But, if someone said that you had a week to accomplish the feat, you would likely begin by carving off just one slice to eat today. Tomorrow, you would do the same thing, or if you were really hungry and ambitious, eat two slices. Large lists of tasks become much less monumental and more easily focused on when divided in bite-size pieces of three.

Here’s how “three-ness” applies in a business application. Most business logos are constructed with three or fewer colors, and these are used consistently. Why? Because it makes a logo more instantly recognizable and creates less dissonance when we view it. How would you feel if you saw the McDonald’s logo portrayed in 6 or 7 colors woven into a complex design? It likely would not be very recognizable to you from a distance. Yet that red, yellow and white logo design instantly registers from the highway in an instant. Bingo – the simplicity of three consistent colors.

How would you feel if the McDonald’s logo was rendered in lime green and blue? I’m betting that it wouldn’t be as appetizing to you. How about if the Coca Cola logo was done in purple and brown or an entire rainbow? Ooohh! Not so good. Marketers know to keep the number of colors on a logo to three or fewer, and use them consistently.

The same holds true for quality Web site design. The idea is to make visitors to a site feel at ease and want to linger. To accomplish this goal, the best site designers limit their color palette for a site to three.

The same holds true for type fonts. Top Web designers use three or fewer fonts and don’t vary the sizes all over the place. Throwing a variety of dissonant colors, type fonts and design elements together on the same Web site is a sure way to make visitors get confused, feel uncomfortable and lose focus. To the viewers, at least initially, the reasons why they feel this way may not be all that apparent.

Likewise, fashion design and interior design often follow the “Power of 3.” Think about a woman’s outfit that you find truly striking. Chances are that it is comprised of three or fewer colors. In addition, while the outfit may have one disparate element to make it stand out – like an eye-catching necklace – it won’t have a host of these elements to batter your senses. Geez! I’m suddenly feeling like Mr. Blackwell.

How about most attractive home designs? The same principles hold true. The best interior designs maintain some continuity. They are not contemporary in one room and French provincial in another, with an inexplicable rainbow of colors. Limiting the color palette to three colors, used creatively, helps to make the house flow together.

So, I’ve given you a few tips for understanding what makes you comfortable or uncomfortable on a Web site. And more on how the “Power of 3″ can improve your fashion style and the interior design of your apartment or home. But, how can you specifically use the “Power of 3″ to improve your single life?

Simple – or, more appropriately, use the “Power of 3″ to simplify and focus.

Let me explain. Being a single means you are confronted daily with a smorgasbord of options. This is especially true if you are newly single. While your range of possible choices and freedom to choose can be invigorating, they also can quickly become overwhelming.

Don’t try to make endless lists of things to do, people to meet, places to go and traits that you are looking for in a guy or woman you’d like to date. Instead, try organizing everything into easily understood groupings of threes. By focusing your efforts on just three tasks, options or qualities at a time, you’ll find you can cut down on the sense of overwhelm that causes the paralysis of procrastination.

Try utilizing the same principle when you go to a party. For the first 30-45 minutes or so, mix and mingle and scan the available options of the men or women you would really like to meet and get to know. Then, pick the three people on which you would most like to concentrate your attention for the rest of the night.

Approach your targeted trio, one at a time, say “Hi!” and start the conversation. If one or two of your selections don’t seem interested, pick another. The idea is not to let the immense range of choices cause you to hesitate to connect with the 1, 2, or 3 individuals in that crowd to whom you are most attracted.

Again, the real “Power of 3″ comes in its ability to break down complex choices into a size that is easier to understand and focus on — the three things that are most important to you at any one moment in time.

Why not give the “Power of 3″ a try! Perhaps this little technique will become the genie to help you to make your three fondest wishes come true.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Notes, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.