Mel Robbins’ 5 Second Rule
Dr. Meg Jay’s quote: “Take care of the minutes and the years will take care of themselves.”
Talks I watched
I actually watched Meg’s speech before bed one night. Couldn’t practice it right away because, well, I had to force myself to sleep by 23:00. I literally closed the video using the 5 Second Rule. (Even though I really wanted to keep watching more details…)
How Our Brain Works (or… doesn’t)
Humans are designed to:
- pick the easier task
- avoid whatever consumes more energy
So when there’s something important but difficult, our brain quickly finds excuses.
The 5 Second Rule — Why It Works
Mel Robbins says: “We all know what we should do. But if I don’t act within 5 seconds, my brain will talk me out of it.”
How it works:
- Count backwards 5-4-3-2-1
- Immediately move and take action
That countdown interrupts the loop of hesitation. Simple, but powerful.
My Reflections
We already have alarms to wake us up.
We already have schedules for work or survival tasks.
But… we rarely have a forced plan for self-improvement — things we want to change for a long time but keep postponing because “there’s still time.”
That’s me: always plenty of ideas, but not enough action. And we all know:
👉 Ideas without action = nothing.
I’m glad for the actions I have taken, but guilty about the ideas I abandoned.
How I Use the 5 Second Rule
- Change → shift the situation
- Encourage → push myself forward
- Control → fight against my lazy brain
And honestly, sometimes I laugh at myself: “oh am I a kid? This little trick works on me?” But then I remind myself: adults talk to kids gently to guide them… and now I use the same trick to guide myself. Funny, but effective.