Law of 3

I was honored to be asked this week by Matthew Lombardi to speak at his Slatewood Nashville Monthly forum meeting hosted by Haymakes & Co. Matt challenged me with an interesting topic, “What is 1 thing I believe in that others might think is crazy?”. Interestingly for me, when reaching out to a few trusted friends about their 1 thing the feedback was, “I’m sure YOU have more than ONE belief that others think is crazy!” Guilty as charged.

“Third time’s a charm.” How many times have you heard that? Early on in my 18 years in the recruiting space I noticed a thread of commonality when it came to job tenure. It seemed that people’s careers were evolving on a 3-year pattern, which lead me back to a relationship class I took in college. The theory taught was that it takes 3-months for a relationship to either move to the next level or dissolve. If the relationship does evolve forward, than the next reflection point is at the 3 year mark, where one of the persons wants the relationship to evolve again, normally towards marriage (Google “3-year relationship” and you get 682 million results).

Your career is a relationship that I believe evolves on a similar 3-year cycle. Below are 3 ways to use the cycle to plan your 2017.

1.    Look at your career and find out where you are in the cycle

•      Beginning
•      Middle
•      End

2.    Look out 3 years and determine where you want to add value

•      Be aspirational in your thinking
•      It should be a stretch goal
•      It should move you closer to your long-term goal

3.    Put a plan in place to grow the skills you need for #2

•      What rituals do you need to stop or add to your daily routine?
•      Does your current role challenge you with the skills you need to grow? If not, add them on your own or change roles?
•      Find an accountability partner (mentor, coach, friend) to help keep you on track.

If you think the number 3 isn’t important, check out other areas where it makes an impact…..

•     3 primary colors – Red, Yellow, Green
•     Baseball – 3 strikes / 9 innings
•     Christianity – it took God 6 days to create the universe (rested on the 7th), 12 disciples, Christ was 30 when he started his ministry & 33 when he was crucified, Peter denied him 3x, Rose from the dead on the third day
•     Triangle is considered the strongest shape
•     Newton’s 3 laws of motion
•     A normal pregnancy is 9 months long
•     Time – Past, Present, Future | Year = 12 mo | Quarter = 3 mo | Day = 24 hrs | Hour = 60 min | Minute = 60 sec
•     1st, 2nd, 3rd place trophies
•     3 wishes

Like Jeffrey Gitomer says “All things being equal, people do business with people they like. All things being unequal, people do business with people they like.” That only happens over time. 

Need help, visit www.careerdesigncoaching.com.