eliminate negative habits

Ways to Transform Your Life in 5 Seconds

A straightforward technique that can assist you in overcoming procrastination, eliminating harmful habits, and enhancing performance—all within 5 seconds.

In 2008, writer, business owner, and acclaimed television analyst Mel Robbins was unemployed, broke, and losing alternatives.

Her spouse, Chris, had invested in a failing restaurant, and the family was facing bankruptcy. Basic daily choices, such as rising from bed in the morning, suddenly became a significant challenge.

“You mention a lack of motivation?” Robbins queries in this discussion. “I lacked the drive needed to navigate the cards that life had dealt me and that I had, to be honest, created.”

Robbins understood that she required more than motivation to lift herself from her slump. She needed a plan that would drive her to act even when she lacked the desire. As Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman found, 95 percent of people’s choices are not rooted in logic or reason. They’re driven by emotions, by how someone feels about the action.

“Often, when you have tasks, you’re unlikely to want to do them. Waiting around, believing you must feel motivated first, is a significant error, and it’s an even greater mistake to assume that you’ll eventually want to do it,” Robbins stated.

The Five-Second Principle

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After seeing a TV ad featuring a rocket launch, Robbins resolved to propel herself out of bed the following morning with similar enthusiasm and resolve. When the alarm sounded, she counted down from five, “just like NASA when they initiate a rocket launch,” she stated.

It was effective.

Thus, she repeated it the following day and the day after, and before long, Robbins was counting down for every task she was reluctant to undertake. She engaged in tasks she previously didn’t want to do in merely five seconds.

It quickly turned into her new guideline.

“Life, especially in business, involves challenging yourself to tackle uncomfortable tasks to reach your desired results,” Robbins stated. “The key is not postponing until you feel ready.”

The Importance of Five Seconds

It is estimated that Americans make roughly 35,000 choices daily, many of which are made without conscious thought.

“We prefer to believe that we make choices grounded in logic, according to what benefits our enterprises,” Robbins stated. “The reality is that our feelings influence 95 percent of our choices at that time.”

Even worse, negative feelings such as fear, anger, and doubt impact our choices significantly.

Studies indicate there’s approximately a five-second interval between a thought, idea, or instinct and the brain’s action to endorse it—or hinder it.

Realizing the Potential: How Five Seconds Can Transform Your Life and Business

The Science Underlying the Hack

So, how does a seemingly simple trick induce such significant change?

Here’s the method: Instead of resorting to known defense tactics, counting down from five (5-4-3-2-1) compels your brain to pause, concentrate, and engage with an alternative thought. Your mind is no longer dominated by fear, uncertainty, anger, or any other intense emotion that might result in poor, impulsive choices.

It also activates the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain that is engaged when one alters behavior, acquires new skills, or guides one’s thoughts.

“Therefore, rather than allowing your mind to undermine you, you’re employing a meta-cognition strategy to shift the gears in your thinking and facilitate change,” Robbins stated.

Not Only for Employment

The Five-Second Principle: A Universal Tool for Making Better Choices

Should I press the snooze button? Should I remain home and watch TV? Should I indulge in that additional donut? Should I miss that business meeting?

“In life, things are going to occur. And in business, undoubtedly,” Robbins stated.

“The essence of the game and the art in life is ensuring that your emotions and feelings do not control your actions.”

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