Do you have trouble making decisions?
Not necessarily the big ones, little ones like:
- Getting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off instead of hitting the snooze button 10 times.
- Speaking up at a meeting instead of remaining silent and wishing someone else would question the really bad idea.
- Picking up the phone at exactly 9 am like you promised yourself you would do and make those 10 prospect calls.
Hesitating on taking action on even these simplest of decisions is getting in the way of your own success.
Let me introduce you to the 5 Second Rule.
No, not the one where if you drop food on the floor, no matter how dirty the floor is, if you pick it up in less than 5 seconds it’s good to eat.
I’m talking about Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule.
I first met… (well saw) Mel on a Ted Talk I listened to in 2015, How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over.
Meg had two nuggets embedded in her talk to turn your life around and getting more of the life you want.
One was the F#&K Bomb… and spoiler alert… it’s the word “FINE”. Listen to her talk to hear more about that.
The other was the mention of the 5-Second Rule.
Mel has since drilled down on the 5 Second Rule with her new book The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage.
The basic premise is… you have a 5 second window to change the gap between thinking and action.
If you don’t take action on the idea in 5 seconds, you will kill it. Click To Tweet
You will put the emergency brake on and not do it.
The 5 Second Rule is a simple trick to outsmart your brain and instead of creating bad habits you awaken the part of brain to take control and take action to do something new.
Think about this… the alarm goes off and you have two choices… get up in the next 5 seconds or hit the alarm button.
You know you need to get up. You have the impulse, but you put the emergency brake on, kill the impulse and hit the snooze button.
What are the implications?
You do this today and you’ll do it again tomorrow and then next day and the next day.
You’ll be late to work or the dog may pee in the house because you didn’t take her out for the walk.
Think about how these 5 seconds can change a sales rep’s productivity and success.
It’s 9 am and the rep needs to begin making those dreaded prospect calls.
They look at the phone and have two choices. Pick it up or find a very convincing important task to handle instead.
What if the rep looked at the phone and even knowingly is dreading picking it up, yet uses the 5 Second Rule and goes… 5-4-3-2-1 and then picks up the phone and dials?
It’s similar to Brian Tracy’s Eat The Frog first thing in the morning. Do the hard or uncomfortable tasks first and all else will go easier. Click To Tweet
Add the 5 Second Rule to your life… and everything becomes easier because once you did what you didn’t want to do – and survived – everything else becomes easier.
You can get out of your own way of failure and be on your way to changing your life with the 5 Second Rule.
I know I’m meeting my 11 pm bedtime deadline… because at 11 pm I go 5-4-3-2-1 and boom I’m in bed.
And I’m using the 5 Second Rule as soon as my alarm goes off. I’m on time and much more energized for my 7 am gym workout.
I’m also using it every day when I look at my to-do list – because I will admidt I was great about finding something else to-do!
Now it’s your turn. Apply it to everything and send me your results!
