Could it really be possible to get your life back on track heading in the right direction towards your goals by making small 5-second decisions and immediately acting on them? Can you really change your life into the great life you dream it could be by taking one small step after another? Could there really be a very simple technique that will help conquer anxiety and depression? Well, if I were reading those last sentences, I would probably say to myself, “That sounds quite unbelievable”. Until…several years ago… I was searching on the internet for ways to overcome worry and anxiety. Several of Mel Robbins’ YouTube videos happened to come up.
If you have never heard of Mel Robbins before, here is a quick summary: Mel Robbins is a leading global motivational speaker, talk-show host and best-selling author of “The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage” I give this book 5 Stars! I made the decision to listen to the audio version of her book on Audible.
Mel helps real people transform their lives by empowering them with the tools necessary to conquer their everyday problems and life’s biggest problems.
This simple technique will teach you just one thing: HOW TO CHANGE
5 Second Decisions
Here’s Mel’s one-liner definition of the 5 Second Rule:
If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.
If you do this one simple thing, you can prevent your mind from working against you. You can start the momentum before the barrage of thoughts and excuses hit you at full force. For now, you don’t have to worry too much about WHY the Rule works. Trust me for now. It really does.
“The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move before your brain kills it. The rule is incredibly important because from the moment you have an instinct that could change your life, you only have 5 seconds before your brain will shut it down.”
Mel Robbins
Kick Your Butt into Gear using THE 5 SECOND RULE
What do you do? How do you do it? Here it is:
You have an idea or intuition or something that you know you need to do now. Just start counting backward to yourself: 5-4-3-2-1.
The counting will focus you on the goal or commitment and distract you from the worries, thoughts, and excuses in your mind.
As soon as you reach “1” … push yourself to move…to take action.
This is how you push yourself to do the hard stuff — the work that you don’t feel like doing, or you’re scared of doing, or you’re avoiding. This is how you quickly get your mind to change its course.
That’s it. 5 seconds is all it takes. If you don’t act on an instinct within that 5 second window, that’s it…you’re not doing it.
It is a powerful form of a metacognition technique that beats every trick your brain plays on you to cause hesitation, overwhelm, procrastination, and overthinking. Mel has done some massive research to find out the scientific principles of why using The 5 Second rule works. (Further down will be more about the science behind the 5 Second Rule and why it works so well…)
I’m talking about something that will literally change your life–if you let it
Most people KNOW what they should be doing to get what they want, or they could do a quick Google search and learn how to do it if they don’t know. But this technique will help you take the ACTION to move forward taking even those small steps that will start to transform your life into something that you want it to be. The opportunity for your growth and expansion lies in stepping outside your comfort zone and doing those things that you don’t FEEL like doing. What seems to really stop us, is the fact that we don’t FEEL like doing it!
Being motivated or knowing what to do will never be enough. There’s something foundational that must happen before we can act, and that is that we must learn to conquer our own feelings. We must act even if we don’t feel like it! Because of the way your brain is wired when your thoughts and feelings are at war and when there is a debate between what you know you should be doing and what you feel like doing, your feelings are always going to win. If you don’t feel like doing it, you won’t do it–that’s why you need the 5 Second Rule.
Again, here is the very concise explanation:
If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea. If you don’t move or act within 5 seconds, your brain will tend to overthink it, question it, over-analyze it, then come up with all the reasons NOT to do it.
Whatever your goals are, show the world, and yourself, that you’re serious by acting… RIGHT NOW, however insignificant that action may seem. Because when you physically move, your brain starts to build new habits. When you do something you’re not used to doing, you are in the act of building new habits and erasing existing ones. You are starting to build new confidence in yourself and this starts the momentum to keep going.
The Science Behind The 5-Second Rule
In this short video, Mel Robbins explains the science behind The 5 Second Rule, a form of metacognition that beats every trick your brain plays on you to cause hesitation, overwhelm, procrastination, and overthinking. Mel discusses the five research-backed principles you must master in order to redirect your thoughts, take control of your mind, and unlock the power of your decisions.
Mel Robbins says, “I first shared the idea about 5 years ago on a TEDx stage, and it’s now one of the top 20 TEDx talks in the world. It’s been viewed almost 14 million times in over 37 countries–and the feedback we’ve gotten from people who have applied what they learned from that talk is incredible”.
“I discovered the 5 Second Rule about seven years ago. Before I worked for CNN, before I gave the TEDx talk, before I had written one of the top-selling books of last year, before I launched and sold two businesses–in fact, I discovered this tool in what was probably the worst moment of my life to this day”.
Mel goes on to say, “My husband had a restaurant business that went from uber successful to total failure in a matter of a few risky decisions and we found ourselves in a financial free fall. We were at risk of losing everything we had spent our lives building, and I was having a hard time dealing with it. All of a sudden, getting out bed was the hardest thing in the world to me. My alarm clock would go off in the morning, and I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to get up and get my kids off to school. But instead, I kept hitting snooze. Over and over again”.
“Every night I would lie in bed and think about what I needed to do. I needed to get a job so we could pay the bills. I needed to start being nicer to my husband and not let this financial crisis weaken our relationship. I needed to be a mother that could deal with this kind of crippling fear so that my kids didn’t start to feel it too. I knew what I needed to do, but I simply couldn’t do it. You know things are really bad when your kids start missing the bus because you’re oversleeping every day. And that was kind of a wake-up call for me”.
The 5 Second Rule was something that Mel Robbins developed to get herself to take the action when she didn’t want to or didn’t feel like it. Have you ever been so busy feeling sorry for yourself that you can’t even take the action on the simplest of things? I know how that feels. I could totally relate to what she was saying.
And if you don’t struggle with getting out of bed in the morning then your issue is somewhere else…like maybe making endless to-do lists and then not following through with them? Saying we are going to lose 10 pounds, yet continuing to eat cookies and candy? Knowing that walking or exercise will help get us out of a depression, yet “not feeling like it” so we don’t? We all struggle with SOMETHING. Then beating ourselves up saying, “What the heck is wrong with me, am I just lazy? I know what I’m supposed to be doing, why can’t I just do it?”
Trust me. I AM ALL OF THAT AND ALL OF YOU.
Mel goes on to say that she went from bouncing checks to 7-figures in the bank, from fighting with her husband to celebrating over 20 years of marriage. Using the 5 Second Rule, she has cured herself of anxiety, built and sold businesses, been recruited to join the teams at CNN and Success Magazine. Now, she is one of the most-booked speakers in the world. She says she has never felt more in control, happy and free and she couldn’t have done any of it without “The Rule”.
This is what I’ve learned from The 5 Second Rule:
- Knowing what to do will never be enough.
- Knowing why you need to do it will never be enough.
- Waiting around to feel motivated will never be enough.
We need something that’s going to launch us into a state of action.
If you don’t start doing the things you don’t feel like doing, you will wake up one year from today and be in the same place.
So again, here’s the one-liner definition of the 5 Second Rule:
If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.
If you have a goal of losing weight and eating more healthy foods…5-4-3-2-1… get up and take action right now to throw out the cookies, cakes and candies in your cupboard. 5-4-3-2-1…get up and do a Google search to learn about a diet plan that fits in with your goals.
If you have a goal of gaining more respect in the workplace…5-4-3-2-1… raise your hand when you’re in a meeting and you have a great idea.
If you have a goal of launching your own business, and you have no idea where to start…5-4-3-2-1… get on Google, get on YouTube right now and research other businesses in your field of interest, see what they’re doing, find out the next step to learn more about that. 5-4-3-2-1… Put your intentions in writing.
Whatever your goals are, show the world, and yourself, that you’re serious by taking action, however insignificant that action may seem, RIGHT NOW…5-4-3-2-1…GO!! Because when you physically move, your brain starts to build new habits and you start to have more confidence in yourself.
The fact that you took the time to read this article tells me that you are already taking the time to invest in yourself! Want to learn even more about the 5 Second Rule?
Prove That it Works for You Too!!
Get the book for yourself and prove that it works for you too!! I give this book 5 STARS!! “The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage”
Click here to dive into the 5 elements of The 5 Second Rule.