Why 3 Is The Solution To Your Problems
The number 3 appears all around us and perhaps it plays a larger role in life than we realize. Does superstition have some merit?
Most people believe in luck in some form or the other. You have to tie your shoes in a certain way or get dressed in a specific order (pants first or you’re weird) to ensure your day has the best chance of succeeding. However, what happens when the lace on those fancy new leather shoes snaps or your big toe starts staring back at you through those wooly slippers you wear too much?
The Drawing Of The Three
As a mere youngster, quite susceptible to superstition, my mother told me that bad luck comes in threes. I always admire her philosophical genius and following a nightmare Tuesday I researched whether there was any validity to this superstition. Armed with confirmation bias one of my top resources, Wikipedia (second only to VICE), informed me that luck — especially bad luck — is said to “come in threes”. That’s neat, but what is the significance of three?
Three is deeply woven into several aspects of everyday civilization and it surrounds you more than you realize. Don’t believe me? Well, 3 is a number, numeral and digit. It is a natural number known to follow 2 and is the smallest odd prime number. Three is a very rough approximation of pi (π) and according to that guy we met in school, Pythagoras, 3 is the noblest of all digits. So, three is used in mathematics a lot, mathematics is said to be the answer to life and therefore it explains why you’re having a bad day, tough three months or crappy three years? Nope, that’s a weak argument but…
Then you think about it — humans see the world in 3 spatial dimensions. A triangle is our most stable physical shape used every day by engineers and designers. We can define all colour in terms of the three primary colours. For some reason counting to three is one of the first stops when learning a foreign language. We use 1,2,3 to set pace in music, dance and to indicate when the hide and seek game starts. “One” and “Two” teaches us the interval of count and “Three” confirms our adoption of the rate.
We celebrate forms of three — in soccer it is seen as a magnificent achievement if a player scores three goals, this is called a hat-trick. A “threepeat” is the art of winning three consecutive championships and most sports have a Triple Crown when winning three critically acclaimed competitions. For example, in motorsport the Triple Crown is known as someone who has won the Indy500, Le Mans and the Monaco GP.
We also have a few superstitions connected to 3. “Third time’s the charm” to indicate that the third attempt is likely to be a success. “When you point your finger remember that there are 3 others pointing back at you.” Apparently it is also bad luck to be the third person to light your cigarette from the same match or lighter. This superstition originated from soldiers in the First World War who believed that a sniper might see the first light, aim on the second and shoot on the third.
For those that love astrology, three is a life path of natural rhythm and it is associated with Jupiter, the planet of abundance, ambition, knowledge and wisdom. Jupiter also represents Zeus in Greek mythology and is connected to the zodiac Sagittarius. However, people definitely aren’t defined by a number. A number can explain some aspects of your life and determine your mindset. Last Tuesday, the number 3 saved my day…
The Hack, The Deadline & The Car
I woke up to emails from Facebook indicating that I added a new cellphone number and employees to my DJ business in the early morning hours of winter, because productivity. I was a bit shocked as I haven’t used my Facebook page in quite a while and upon investigation I discovered I posted an advertisement of a dress and started an ad campaign in Vietnam for good measure. After a few hours I secured my account and removed myself as employee of my Facebook page, TA Productions, which now sold knock-off fashion. I entered my work day feeling as if my child was abducted. Strike One…
I approached the start of my work day like any other, reading and responding to emails when I found an email bearing the contents of Strike Two. The email informed me that the big task which I believed was postponed was once again required for completion by close of business. A cold sweat broke out over my body eerily similar to the feeling of forgetting to ask your parents to sign your test in primary school. While attempting to complete a task in record time my inbox was flooded with more emails from Facebook. I was in a titanic battle with an IP address from Pretoria for control of my “cringey” high school photos.
As I finally overpowered my oppressor, my father phoned with news that my car will require an expensive inspection of my gearbox. I imagine the feeling that overcame me in that moment was comparable to the distraught Charles Le Clerc felt when qualifying pole position at the Monaco GP only to damage his gearbox. A month after paying off my car I am due for expensive repairs. Strike Three and it wasn’t even 12:30 yet.
This is when the words of my mother bubbled up in my subconscious — bad luck comes in threes. My three bad things have been ticked off the list and that meant that for the rest of the day I can expect life to sway in my favour. So it did, I finished up with my deadline at about 21:45, regained control of my Facebook and wolfed down the burger and milkshake brought to me by my caring girlfriend. When I got into bed I was not angry, sad, stressed or depressed. I was just tired and content for the people I have in my life. If I can make it through that nightmare I can make it through anything.
So, is three the answer?
You have a choice, you can either expect that bad things will always come in threes and look for three bad things to fill your bad day quota or you can immediately look for the positives in a situation. Considering the strong prevalence of three in life, my mathematical brain tends to rationalize the concept of 3 as a decent explanation of suffering.
In the shadow of the 3rd wave of COVID-19 in South-Africa we all have to wonder if this is the final ingredient to our world’s bad luck? You might not have three wishes from a genie and you might feel like the three pigs or three bears whose houses and porridge bowls were ruined. There truly is no way to know when your turn for good luck is. If you convince yourself that your three bad things have happened, you are primed to look at life armed with the confirmation bias that good times lie ahead.
Take 3 deep breaths — let one, two, three set your pace and provide stability in your day. Make your own luck and push through.
This does not constitute as financial or life advice, read my story and don’t be an idiot 😉
