The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins Changed my LIFE!

Back in June of 2011 I had been cancer-free for one year. Coming back from stage III throat cancer was not easy, but as I sat in the University of Kansas Cancer Center waiting for my one-year follow-up, I had this nagging question that I couldn’t shake. The questions was “is this all that is left for me?” waiting with bated breath every year for a positive follow-up, to hear that “Things are fine Greg”.

I didn’t like that idea, but I didn’t know what to do about it. That’s when I saw this TEDx video from Mel Robbins:

Something happened when I watched that video in the waiting room at the Cancer Center. Mel introduced her “5 Second Rule” and it motivated me to make a change right then and there. I applied for a job in Germany while still sitting there before my appointment. It was Wednesday, June 15th 2011 at 2:30pm in the afternoon.

I got the job, and moved to Germany for five years. To say that single decision changed the course of my life is the understatement of the century. But it didn’t stop there. I decided to run more, and now have run 11 marathons. I decided to write a book, now it’s sold over 100,000 copies and is being used in universities and cancer centers around the world.

I can’t even imagine who I’d be or where I would be if I had stuck around in Kansas City waiting for that next positive check. Waiting for life to happen.

Of course, I’m not the only one. Over 8.4 million people have watched Mel’s video and her 5 Second Rule has been helping all kinds of people take control and change their lives. It’s been so successful that she made The 5 Second Rule into a book that just came out Feb 28th.

The basic premise is this: We all have things we want to do, or know we should do, yet we don’t do them. We hesitate, we wait, and we kill our progress with doubt, excuses, worry or fear.  It could be anything from getting up early and going for a run, or voicing a new idea at work.

The point is this, when you feel that hesitation, start counting down from 5 to 1. When you get to zero, you act. You act before you brain has time to doubt, to fear, worry and to kill the idea. Now you have the law of inertia on your side (an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion).

Why does this work? I certainly can’t explain it better than Mel herself:

Whenever you feel an instinct fire up to act on a goal or a commitment, or the moment you feel yourself hesitate on doing something and you know you should do, you should use the Rule.

I’m really impressed with this book because she clearly maps out how to use this tool to:
– Become confident
– Break the habit of procrastination and self-doubt
– Beat fear and uncertainty
– Stop worrying and feel happier
– Share your ideas with courage

It is IMPOSSIBLE read this book without becoming motivated to attack all those things you want to get done. If it doesn’t motivate you, you’d better check your pulse! Mel knows that there is greatness in all of us, and it’s on the other side of our excuses.

So many great success stories in this book (including one about me, Thanks Mel!), but I’ll close with two quotes from Mel that really stuck me:

“The difference between people who make their dreams come true and those of us who don’t is just one thing: the courage to start and the discipline to keep going.”

There it is. 5 Seconds. Courage. Discipline. That’s all you need to succeed. So when to start?

“There is no right time. There is only right now. You get one life. This is it.”

Now get out there and make a change. Start with this book.

Cheers,

~Greg