Ok. Full disclosure. I wanted to read The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins for ages. The book arrived and sat staring at me for weeks. I’m an expert at research. Purchasing or requesting from the library – easy peasy. But shoot, open the book and get the work done? Insert image of cat chasing its own tail.
I’ve heard Mel Robbins talk on random clips on YouTube. She’s clearly a baller. She gets stuff DONE! So who better to help get me to stop with the list-making and the what-ifs and the silliness of life that takes up the day but doesn’t help me get ‘er done?!
First, watch Mel online. You need her voice in your head when you read this. Legit. You’ll thank me.
Second, I love Mel’s perspective that we all have the stuff that we don’t want to do or is hard to do or comes with all these other things. All of us. No one is immune. And she outright states that sometimes it’s getting out of bed. Or asking for the raise. Or being brave and trying something out of your comfort zone. The thing that feels like it’s weighing your behind down like a ton of bricks. I love that she doesn’t target this 5 Second Rule to a niche. We all need the rule to take care of our business – whatever that might be.
Here’s the skinny. Counting backwards takes some brain power. When you get to that number 1 in your countdown, it’s launch time, baby. Giddy up. Stop feeling (this feels hard, I feel embarrassed, I feel silly because I don’t know how, etc.) and just simply DO.
Readers, it’s golden.
I feel like an absolute dynamo at list-making. And I’ll call myself pretty disciplined even when I don’t want to do all the things. (Especially that villian of a kitchen floor that I swear to the heavens stays clean for a hot second before my humans destroy it.) But like you, I got the hairy monster things that feel heavy and I spin my wheels to avoid avoid avoid.
One week in of the 5 Second Rule and I get it. I’m a believer. Taking the (soul-sucking) feeling out of weeding, for example, turned this into a chore that just has to get done. Countdown to 1. Launch. Am I saying this will turn all your nasty to-do’s into unicorn moments? Hell no. But that isn’t the goal of this mind trick.
Grab your big girl pannies (and an audiobook) and it’s 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – GO!