JS Tip 526: Procrastination, Mel Robbins, and the 5 Second Rule

Mel (Melanie) Robbins, the television host, author, and motivational speaker, suggests we use the 5 Second Rule*: 

The moment you feel motivated to do something, you must act on that motivation within five seconds or your brain will kill that motivation.

The action can be as simple as researching the task, scheduling the task, or doing the task. But you must act. Otherwise, phffft, the motivation’s gone. And the task undone.  

Robbins counsels—

Start by counting backwards to yourself: 5-4-3-2-1. The counting will help you focus on the goal or commitment and distract you from the worries, thoughts, and fears in your mind. As soon as you reach “1,” move.

That’s it. . . .  

Counting is an action. Teaching yourself to take action (counting backwards), when normally you’d stop yourself (by thinking), is remarkable. That one small five second change, changes everything.** 

We tried it. We like it. You try it.

We’re grateful to Hollie Doyle for pointing us to Mel Robbins and the 5 Second Rule. Thank you.

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* Not the five-second rule that says when you drop a hot dog on the floor, you have five seconds to grab it and eat it and it’ll still be good. Nope. Not that one.

** Mel Robbins’ website: https://melrobbins.com/blog/the-5-second-rule/