As your summer vacation is going on, you might be struggling with being productive. But worry not, I have something amazing for you that will surely help you. By now, you might have heard somewhere this famous concept of the 5-seconds rule proposed by Mel Robbins. Mel Robbins is an Ivy-educated criminal lawyer and one of the top relationships and career experts in America. She is a TEDx speaker, motivational speaker, and podcast host, and is the author of many amazing life-changing books, the most popular being the “The 5-second Rule: Transform your life, work, and confidence with everyday courage”
In her words, she explained elegantly about it by saying, “When you know the power of a 5-second decision, and you understand that you always have a choice from auto-pilot going to decision-makes, everything in your life will change.” But what is the 5-second rule? It is simple if you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it. The moment you feel the urge to act on your goal, you must use the rule at that instant. She added that the moment you feel yourself hesitating about doing something that you know that you should do, count five-four-three-two-one- Go and move towards the action and do it. If you delay any more than five seconds, your mental habits take over and kill your instinct and urge to change, innovate and step out of your comfort zone.
Productivity is not about doing all your to-dos in one day, it’s about the ability to advance and progress on things that really matter to you. Let’s take an example of when to use this 5-second rule:
- While waking up in the morning, when you’re about to hit snooze and go back to sleep
- When you’re about to give in to bad habits
- While hesitating about something
- Before we get angry and indulge in an argument
- Before exercising, or going to the gym or a run
These are just a few examples, there are plenty more and this can be applied everywhere. This rule has many advantages associated with it, for instance, it prevents you from overthinking and self-doubt. This encourages you to trust your instinct and also increases your confidence and courage. Think about the last time when you had this urge to do something but you stopped, so it’s time to adapt this rule into your life, and it’s time that you stop preventing yourself from taking these amazing opportunities around you.
