Most commonly heard of in connection to the world of art or photography — it has to do with placing elements of the image in a visually pleasing arrangement.

But I recently heard of a different application to the Rule of Thirds.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the video where I saw it, so this is the gist of what I recall, not a verbatim recitation. It was a female athlete talking about her training experience and she was feeling down about a particular day’s performance. Her coach was telling her about the Rule of Thirds.

Basically, he told her that a third of the time, she will be super happy with a particular day’s performance, a third of the time she will feel pretty bummed and down on herself, and a third of the time she’ll simply be content and take the day in stride. And this is how it is in most of life — some excellent days, some crappy days, and some days where you don’t feel particularly high or low. And that is okay.

We aren’t meant to sail through life walking on clouds of elation, always feeling ‘up’. But we also aren’t meant to be down in the dumps all the time feeling sad or mad or bad or guilty about things. Likewise we should not aim to be stoically in the middle, avoiding the highs or the lows of life. Personally I find always-up and always-down people tiresome, and I try not to be tiresome in either extreme.

Our Thirds should be in balance. It’s okay to have really Up days and really Down days. The trick is to remember that NONE of those days is all there is. When you realize you aren’t stuck in Down, it is easier to just ride it out and anticipate other days. Even if a third of your days are Down, you have to remember that the other two thirds of your days are either Up or at least Average.