Motivation is a stimulus for action. It is the spark that ignites our desire to do more, achieve the unattainable and be the best version of ourselves. The problem with motivation is that it’s fleeting, and often not there when you need it most. Think about the following example:
Before going to bed, you decide to wake up early the next morning and go out for a run before work. You feel highly motivated and set your alarm for 6 a.m. Tomorrow will be the start to the new you! Fast forward to the alarm clock sounding and the excuses and negative thoughts start to come to mind: “I’m too tired,” “it’s too early,” “what in the world was I thinking?” Then, you snooze the alarm. All of the motivation you felt last night is gone and you push your goals out of mind and go back to sleep.
Has this or something similar ever happened to you? If your answer is yes, you’re not alone. Your brain is hard-wired to protect you from risk, so in these scenarios, it shifts to autopilot and makes decisions for you. These are bad habit loops within your brain and they happen all day long. The good news is that we always have the power to interrupt those habit loops, shifting from autopilot to make our own decisions.
Instead of waiting for motivation to strike, we must learn to create our own; we must learn to outsmart our brains. All it takes is five seconds of conscious effort to change your thoughts and change your life. Mel Robbins is a motivational speaker that coined the five-second rule. The five-second rule is a method to get yourself from idea to action in, you guessed it, five seconds.
Here’s how to use it:
- When you want to do something but need the motivation to act, give yourself a five-second countdown
- Think of a rocket ship ready to launch
- When your countdown is complete, lean in and act immediately. You blast off like that rocket ship and you move, you speak or you act.
Back to my previous example, when the alarm clock sounds and you no longer feel the motivation to get out of bed and begin your run, count yourself down from five and then launch out of bed.
The countdown works because it awakens your prefrontal cortex, the area of your brain responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression and decision-making. The countdown is also a prompt to act with courage and confidence.
Don’t believe it? Try it. What do you want to achieve? Five…four…three…two…one…
Check out Mel Robbin’s video: Mel Robbins – Use This To Control Your Brain
by Megan McKee