The 5 Second Rule

Have you heard about this rule? It is quite startling, with the potential for real life impact. The 5 Second Rule is the secret to changing anything about your life. You can use the Rule and its countdown method to break any bad habit, interrupt self-doubt and negative self-talk, and push yourself to take the actions that will change your life.

It was initially introduced by Mel Robbins in her book, The 5 Second Rule. Robbins explains that it can only take 5 seconds to change your life. She acknowledges that every single one of us has moments of fear, difficulty, and uncertainty, and that to face those we need to be courageous and take immediate action. That’s exactly what the 5 Second Rule will do, it will help you be more courageous and live life to your full potential.

It is a proven fact that anything that takes longer than 5 seconds to decide will be destroyed by our brains. Any thought, any idea, any challenge, or any obstacle that takes longer will be overcome by the mere clutters of our environments. The secret is making a transition from thinking to doing.

We are conditioned in life to count-downs, to moving from a higher level to “GO,” to standing at the starting line and waiting for the starting gun!

Try it for yourself right now. Pick any movement, the raising of your hand, a pat on the top of the head, or a kick. Think about that movement for a second and then start counting backwards from 5 and when you hit 1, what happens almost immediately? We are programed for action and will find the movement to be almost automatically.

In any area of your life there is something you do not do because you just don’t feel like it! You will never be successful or accomplish much in your life if you do not have a method to get motivated, to get it done.

Do you use something like a “to-do” list to identify tasks or projects you need to do in a certain period? How does this work out for you most days. Have you escaped that terrible disease called procrastination? Most have us have not! You cannot be trapped by this disease and accomplish anything in life. We must learn how to stop screwing ourselves over, how to get things done!

Perfection is the enemy of good enough is the insistence that perfection often prevents implementation of good improvements, satisfactory work, or even achieving anything at all. What is often referred to as the 80–20 rule explains this numerically. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort.

We hesitate and don’t act; we look for perfection when it does not exist. We make excuses.

What if we were able to just act! What is the worst thing that could go wrong if we act? So, try this. Five, four, three, two…ACT NOW before you lose the thought!