For as many words as we use, we’re terrible communicators. Voicemails are jumbled streams of consciousness. Emails are “text bombs” with no rhyme or reason. Presentations are nothing but crippling piles of slides. But don’t worry—here are three rules of three to make your communications clearer, more compelling, and more efficient and effective.

All good things come in threes. Blind Mice, Stooges, Wise Men, Little Pigs, Musketeers, and Rocky movies. (For the record, Rocky IV and Rocky V were terrible—see? They should have stopped at three.)

First rule of 3: It’s always 3 things

When you convey information, don’t rattle off a list of 47 things the listener must understand. Don’t hand them an incoherent pile of slides and expect them to make sense of them. Structure your work. Chunk up the information into manageable bites. You’ll find there are usually three bites regardless of what flavor of pie you’re serving.

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