“I know what I need to do, but I still don’t do it when its execution time” 5 Seconds can CHANGE THIS
The Problem
You want to change. You know what you need to do to change. Be it your goal or any specific task.
BUT, You lack execution.
You do not know why this is so and it’s eating you up.
You thus end up in a mental jail and go into self-destruction feeling bad about yourself for not doing what you know you should do.
You thus need the HOW of fixing this problem.
The Science: Why our BRAIN can be the BIGGEST ENEMY towards productivity
As kids, just imagine if parents didn’t push us into doing the right things like doing homework in time rather than just watching TV.
This push was there as children, that’s why progress occurred.
But, as an adult, you must parent yourself. Most don’t.
- Our feelings decide for us 95% of time: We are feeling machines that think
Logically, we know what we should do, but our feelings about doing it make our decisions for us.
The problem with this is that how we feel is not aligned with our goals.
We are thus not battling our goals & tasks but the feelings about them.
Thus, we must separate our feelings and still continue to act effectively.
Life is gritty & hard in many instances.
You can’t control how you feel all the time but you can always choose how you act.
2. Brain doesn’t like you doing tasks of courage
Tasks associated with courage have uncertainty, fear, and difficulty associated with them.
Because of primal instincts, our brain tries to avoid us doing this by making us go into overthinking mode then analyzing the pros and cons.
This is our default mental setting. For a hunter, this is important.
For you as a knowledge worker in a safe environment, you need to find a workaround to it.
Furthermore, our brains procrastinate not to avoid work but to avoid stress. This is why we want to feel good right now.
The favorite way for the brain to protect you is the moment you think of doing something hard, it goes to work through analyzing & overthinking to NOT do it. That’s natural.
3. Activation Energy
In chemistry, this is the minimum amount of energy required to begin a chemical reaction.
This is why change is hard.
Thus, you need to train yourself in pushing yourself to get started. The 5 second rule is the tool to do this effectively.
After that, it is much easier as you gain momentum & create a chain reaction to build upon it.
The Solution: 5 second rule
Count backwards from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, then ACT.
Physically move towards the task or your brain will STOP YOU.
The 5 second rule, if right implemented, creates immediate behavior change.
This is a Simple, but effective tool.
Your Brain can be the biggest enemy if you cannot understand why it sometimes acts as resistance towards you achieving your goals.
5 Second Rule is thus a Metacognition tool, which basically means trying to beat your brain by thinking about your thinking.
It is a starting ritual which activates the prefrontal cortex.
It allows you to move from automatic(negative) patterns towards deliberate action
40% of mental & physical behaviors are routines wind into our limbic systems which are an irrational part of the brain.
Yet, when we use the 5 second rule, we are interrupting these automatic patterns and rather opting for deliberate thinking through the prefrontal cortex which allows us to skip past our brain’s resistance to change.
Benefits
- Mentally Shift Gears
- Interrupt default thinking
- Assert Control
- Change Physiology
- Achieve your goals, increase fulfillment
Remember: Change is Simple, Not Easy.
The 5 Second rule is simple but not easy.
It requires a commitment within yourself, only then all of this starts to work.
We as human beings are BIASED.
CREATE A BIAS TOWARD ACTION.
Insights from 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins
