The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

by Mel Robbins

change comes down to the courage you need every day to make five second decisions.

Five seconds of courage makes all the difference.

it was the one moment every day where I actually felt like I was in control. It was an act of defiance. It was as if I were saying,

Have you ever noticed how the smallest things can feel so hard?

When it comes to goals, dreams, and changing your life, your inner wisdom is a genius. Your goal-related impulses, urges, and instincts are there to guide you. You need to learn to bet on them.

When it comes to change, goals, and dreams, you have to bet on yourself. That bet starts with hearing the instinct to change and honoring that instinct with action.

The 5 Second Rule The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal you must 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move or your brain will stop you.

What I discovered is powerful: pushing yourself to take simple actions creates a chain reaction in your confidence and your productivity.

If you want to improve your life, you’ll need to get off your rear end and kick your own butt. In my world, I call that the power of a push.

Hesitation is the kiss of death. You might hesitate for a just nanosecond, but that’s all it takes. That one small hesitation triggers a mental system that’s designed to stop you. And it happens in less than—you guessed it—five seconds.

Metacognition, by the way, is just a fancy word for any technique that allows you to beat your brain in order to accomplish your greater goals.

you’ll discover something else—real confidence and pride in yourself. The authentic kind that comes when you honor your goals and accomplish small wins that are important to you.

Whatever reason you use to hold yourself back—you are wrong. It’s not safer to stay quiet.

There is no right time. There is only right now.

The world rewards those who are courageous enough to stop waiting and start.

When you sit with fear and uncertainty your mind makes it expand; it’s called “the spotlight effect” and it’s one of the many tricks your brain plays in an attempt to keep you “safe.”

You can feel uncertain and be ready. You can be afraid and do it anyway. You can fear rejection and still go for it.

The treasure in your life is buried within you. It’s not inside of someone else.

She had devoured fantastic books like Lean In, Tribes, Daring Greatly, and The Confidence Code.

Confidence is a skill that you build through action.

At the heart of everyday courage is a choice. Five seconds at a time you make a decision to do, say, or pursue what’s truly important to you.

That’s why there’s such a tight bond between courage and confidence.

#5SecondRule is about something far greater than waking up on time. It’s about waking up the power of you and using it to shake up your life.

there’s only one thing you must do: Stop thinking about how you feel. Your feelings don’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you DO.

Exercise and health comes down to one simple rule—you don’t have to feel like it. You just have to do it.

There’s a principle called Parkinson’s Law—work expands to whatever time you give it.

Start before you’re ready. Don’t prepare, begin.