Let’s commit to the 5-second rule

I’m late to the Mel Robbins party and her incredible 5-second rule, but I’ve totally fallen in love with it.

Here’s how she describes it:

If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it.

When you feel yourself hesitate before doing something that you know you should do, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and move towards action.

Since learning about this, I’m seeing massive payoffs. I’m now acting on the small nudges of inspiration, not worrying about how I’ll do it or what if X happens. I kicked off a new workshop - in super Beta form - I contacted a writer I love, and podcaster I adore. These are little brave things that I wouldn’t have done without the 5-4-3-2-1.

It’s like a jet pack that propels you to amazing new places.

Here’s how I see it working: Let’s say you want to have a higher profile at your agency. A new pitch comes up and you think of raising your hand for it. But then you think: “That might be really embarrassing; I might suck at it” And if you listen to that, you won't act. So, before those thoughts start creeping in, say “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” and raise your hand for the pitch. Take action without considering your feelings.

Doing this makes all the difference. It makes us do lots of little things that add up to big ones. But more importantly, it gives us faith in ourselves, our intuition and our follow through; we can count on ourselves. And that is huge. That’s the growth hormone for a whole lot of confidence.

Photo by Upesh Manoush on Unsplash