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

by Mel Robbins

every single day we face moments that are difficult, uncertain, and scary. Your life requires courage. And that is exactly what the Rule will help you discover—the courage to become your greatest self.

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

I don’t know when we all bought into the idea that in order to change you must “feel” eager or “feel” motivated to act. It’s complete garbage. The moment it’s time to assert yourself, you will not feel motivated. In fact, you won’t feel like doing anything at all.

Using the Rule strengthens your belief that you do have the ability to control your own fate—because you are proving it to yourself one push at a time.

The Rule doesn’t make these things easy; it makes them happen. That’s why I describe it as a tool.

The #5SecondRule gave them all what it had given me: the framework, the courage, and the method for HOW to push yourself to change.

Every phase of your life and career will require a different you. Using the Rule, you’ll become the person you’re meant to become in this next phase of your life.

You can change your “default” mental settings and your habits one five-second decision at a time. Those small decisions add up to major changes in who you are, what you feel, and how you live.

Everyday life is full of moments that are scary, uncertain, and difficult. Facing these moments and unlocking the opportunity, magic, and joy in your life requires tremendous courage.

These stories are real and they are just the tip of the iceberg. They highlight the struggle between our desire to change our lives and our fear of it. They also reveal the power that everyday courage has to transform everything.

You may think you’re protecting yourself from judgment, rejection, or upsetting someone, but when you make excuses and talk yourself into waiting, you are limiting your ability to make your dreams come true.

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

Life isn’t a Nicholas Sparks novel. Life is gritty and hard and then suddenly it is brilliant and amazing.

And that explains why change is hard. Logically, we know what we should do, but our feelings about doing it make our decision for us.

but 5- 4- 3- 2- 1-GO, and you could make yourself go for one.

but 5- 4- 3- 2- 1-GO, and you can force yourself to start working on it.

but 5- 4- 3- 2- 1-GO, and you can make yourself say it.

You can’t control how you feel. But you can always choose how you act.

The fact is that thinking about being healthier won’t make you healthier. Even meditation, which is a mental exercise, still requires that you DO IT. There is no getting around this. You must take action.

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.

Life is about the choices we make. And I have said over and over in this book that you can always choose how you act.

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

I write down my 1 to 3 “musts” and why they are important.

the first 2 to 3 hours of the day are the best hours for the brain to focus on the tasks or goals that advance your own personal or professional goals.

7. I plan my quitting time.

Procrastination is not a form of laziness at all. It’s a coping mechanism for stress.

When your mind takes you somewhere sad, dark, doubtful, or negative, you don’t have to go with it.

Leave nothing important unsaid.

That was the push moment. Leave nothing important unsaid.

It only takes five seconds to change your life.