The Standard Creepiness Rule

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3.9K followers
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Rules of 7 appear everywhere in daily life, even in romance.

(Source: xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.)

In dating/romance, the rule is "never date anyone under half your age plus 7." This rule claims what age difference is acceptable. Is this where the May-December relationship originates?

Other Rules of 7 include:

Rule of 7 in Marketing: States that prospects need to see your offer at least 7 times before they really notice your offer and start to take action. Consumer research firm Yankelovich, tells us we have gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as 5,000 ads a day today. Maybe this rule should be studied again.

Rule of 7 in Communications: States that anytime you communicate with a large group of people, you should do so as though everyone is seven years old. It means being so clear, compelling, and straightforward that you hold their attention. Be intellectual in one-to-one situations.

Rule of 7 in Project Management: From my Project Management days, PM professionals learn Statistical Process Control discipline as part of Quality Management. SPC helps determine if your processes are “in control” or “out of control.” If seven or more data points fall on one side of the center line (Target), your process is considered “out of control”, and your team needs to investigate the cause of the problem to get your process back “in control.”

Rule of 7 in Leadership: Seven is the threshold of people involved in a meeting or a project that, once exceeded, demands changes to management. Seven is where small group behavior gives way to large group behavior. For movie buffs, had The Magnificant Seven, starring Yul Brynner, been a group of 8, then they would have been The Mediocre Eight. The book "Decide & Deliver: 5 Steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your Organization" (Harvard Business Press) states "once you've got 7 people in a group, each additional member reduces decision effectiveness by 10%."

Rule of 7 in Bridge: I don't know how to play the card game, Bridge. But I heard Bridge has a Rule of 7 as well.

Rule 7 in Golf: Determines where and when you can practice during and between rounds of competitive golf.Two friends were disqualified from a multiday, multi-course tournament under Rule 7-1b (You can't practice on the course before you play a round, or between rounds of a multiday competition played on consecutive days.) After completing play on one course in the morning, they were caught playing a practice round in the afternoon on the second course.

What other Rules of 7 are there?



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Recent Comments

39

Most people read at a 7th grade level and I've heard the advice to write at that level so that it's easy for everyone to understand.

- Christina

I've heard that as well, which is what I do.

But, when it comes to advertising, Wordstream did an analysis in 2017 of 612 best performing ads. One of the factors was the average reading level. The average reading level of the top-performing ads is 9th grade!

Ah, interesting!

(P.S. Did you notice today is the 7th of February. ;) )

- Christina

7 year itch, does that qualify?
Tim

ha ha ha! Yes, that qualifies!

Just thought of another: 7th inning stretch!

Rule of 7 has some logics and could it be the centre of mass numerical

Thanks for sharing

You're welcome, Glenys.

Interesting article, Glen. Where does the creepiness come in, though?! That was the catchy part of your title! Thought you were going to be writing about zombies in WA or something! TeeHee!

The creepiness part comes from those who violate the "never date anyone under half your age plus 7" rule. :)

Excellent article Glen, a keeper. I've bookmarked this one!

Kaju

Thanks so much, Kaju!

The dice has 7 on the opposite sides 1+6 - 3+4 - 5+2
There are seven chakras in its simplest form.
There are seven deadly sins
The aura has 7 layers
The rainbow has 7 colors
My rank is 7 ;)

Yes, 7 is a magical number

Great ones, Loes! Especially the last one!

Haha, yes, that's the best;)

Great one Loes!

:)

Good one, Loes!

... and I forgot all about the famous fairy tale "Tom Thumb, and the 7-miles boots

Does that make 7 seven items?

Very attentive! Yes!

WooHoo!

not to mention 7 days in a week

Creepy;)

How about the 7 notes in the musical scale?

That's a nice one too

7 habits of successful people

I have a blog about this too

Oy vey. check out the Russian philosopher and mathematician Peter Ospenski (I have to check the spelling)

Pjotr Demjanovitsj Oespenski a Russian esoteric writer

that's the one

Lots of "7"s!

The 7 categories people are living in, most are in category 1 - 3
Sleeping beauties:)

Good one!

The rule, of live seven days and then start a new week lol.
No, for real, 7 is a very special number.

The trick is to fit all 7 within one standard deviation, Glen!

The girl on the edge of the bell curve is outside one standard deviation. :)

With a two-tailed test, you get twice the fun!

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