The Five Second Rule

What do you think of when I say the five-second rule? If you’re like most people you think of when someone drops a cookie on the ground and they still want to eat it. So they yell “Five-second rule” then they pick up the food and stick it in their mouth.

Well, that’s not what I’m talking about. The five-second rule I’m talking about is generally coined by Mel Robbins. The way she describes it is the moment you have the instinct to do something you have five seconds before your brain will stop you from doing it. “Five, four, three, two, one, move.” You have that long to move and if you don’t you’ll lose the opportunity. Your brain will come up with a ton of reasons why you can’t or shouldn’t. So you won’t. The five-second rule doesn’t give you time to think.

How do you use the five-second rule? That’s simple. The moment you have the impulse to do something, you count backward from five to one then you physically do the thing or something that goes along with it.

Like get up and dance if you hear music you like or make a note of a quote if you are listening to a speaker, just do something physically. So first the count down, then follow it with action. That is how you use the five-second rule. It’s simple, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I’m the kind of girl who likes to dance. Ballroom dancing to be exact. So when my homeschool group has prom or dances it’s rather annoying that the boys in the group are so shy when it comes to asking girls to dance. Well at one point I spent an entire dance waiting for the guys to ask me to dance. I was bored out of my mind because all I wanted to do was dance, that’s why I was there after all. Well after that night I gave up on that particular social norm. I started to ask the guys to dance. Guys, you think it’s hard to ask a girl to dance when that is the social norm you’re expected to ask us girls to dance? Try not being nervous when you get some pretty strange looks from people around you because you aren’t supposed to ask someone to dance.

Honestly, the five-second rule has been one of the things I use in order to follow through with actually asking. Because getting halfway out of your chair to ask someone to dance then suddenly grabbing your glass instead because you talked yourself out of it at the last second, feels just as awkward and bad as the person saying no to your face.

But the five-second rule can be used for anything, I’ve used it for getting up in the morning, going to talk to someone, jumping off the diving broad at a pool since I don’t like heights.

Look the five-second rule is a tool. You don’t have to use it but if you don’t you may let chances slip away. Remember 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, move.

I am going to warn you though. You need to be careful with the situations you use it in because it can be very easy to use it in reckless situations as well as smart ones. it basically turns off the fear and thinking parts of your brain effectively making you fearless which can be good in situations like public speaking but maybe be dangerous in situations like being dared to jump off the roof onto a trampoline and from there into a pool. (hypothetically of course) So I am going to warn you because it really does work.