The 5 Second Rule (not the one where you can eat food from the floor!)was something that Mel Robbins developed and shared on TEDx and it’s now one of the top 20 TEDx talks in the world.
What is the 5 Second Rule?
Do you, like me, sometimes struggle to get out of bed? Or do you find that you are making to-do lists that are not getting completed. Do you sometimes feel defeated and wonder what’s wrong with you? Do you sometimes wonder why all your dreams and plans go up in smoke? I know, I do.
Mel Robbins says she felt the same. So here’s what she found:
- Knowing what to do will never be enough.
- Knowing why you need to do it will never be enough.
If you don’t start doing the things you don’t feel like doing, you will wake up one year from today and be in exactly the same place.
Mel Robbins
So here’s the one-liner definition of the Rule:
If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.

I’ve just purchased Mel’s book . And am looking forward to learning and putting this rule into practice.
I was amazed to watch a video of people who’ve used this rule to stop themselves from taking their own lives. Powerful stuff!
Our actions and decisions today will shape the way we will be living in the future.

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“If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea.”
Thanks for sharing the Cory. I’m gonna kill it now, of all the things I’ve been procrastinating for later.
This is something I’m going to be working on too, Natasha. I’ve ordered the book and will keep you posted on how it is!
It’s so true about me, so many ideas getting lost, the novel losing its spine and work to be completed. A golden rule and agree our brain wash everything ashore. Will follow the writer!
For someone like me whose middle name is procrastination, this is blasphemy!! Then again, explains why I haven’t reached as far as my peers in some (many) aspects
5 seconds is too less an allowance by the mind before it goes on to kill the idea. Can I apply it tomorrow morning to wake up at 5 am to do my yoga peacefully? I will see.
I love the idea! Applied well, I think my teen and I will both get plenty of work done in no time. Thanks for sharing this, Corinne. Currently, reading Nir Eyal’s ‘Indistractable’ and I cannot tell you how deeply it is impacting my work-day schedules and enhancing my focus so I’m getting way more done in a day than I thought I ever could!