Discovering Mel Robbins: a summary of her message and her 5 Second Rule

I recently discovered Mel Robbins on Instagram. She puts out great Instagram content such as:

“What would @oprah do?” – That simple question is the key to making better decisions. It’s what I always ask myself when I’m weighing options and have a tough decision to make. By asking “what would @oprah do”, I literally CHANGE the way I think. It’s called the “power of objectivity” and in this video I share this powerful tool with you. – When I consider any problem from Oprah’s perspective, I silence my emotions, think creatively and have the ability be more strategic about the choices in front of me. It works like a charm. – Now it’s your turn. Who do you admire? Tag them. The next time you have a decision to make, stop and ask yourself what would they do.

A post shared by Mel Robbins (@melrobbinslive) on Aug 23, 2018 at 3:10pm PDT

I thought at first that she was Tony Robbins’s wife. But she’s not. Imagine those guys as a motivational power couple!

I’ve watched her great TEDx talk:

and her interview on Lewis Howes’s podcast:

Here is my summary of her message.

• There is a gap between what you know you should do and actually doing that.
• Motivation is not enough. Most of the time you won’t feel motivated to do what you don’t want to do.
• The way around this is to make use of your basal ganglia which manages habit and unconscious action. eg for an example of unconscious action, think about when you put on your trousers in the morning. You just do it and if you thought now about which leg you put in first, you would have no idea!
• To activate the basal ganglia, don’t let your prefrontal cortex and natural desire for comfort to hijack you. Instead use the 5 second rule.
• Whenever you are going to procrastinate, you just count backwards from 5 and by 1 you’ve started doing what you’re wanted to do but were too lazy/scared to do. Eg if you want to start getting out of bed, you can’t just say ‘I’m going to start getting out of bed early’, because in all likelihood, if that’s not your habit, then you’re not going to do that. If instead you count down from 5 to 1 as you’re deciding to get out of bed as soon as you first wake up, then you’re more likely to get up.
• Nobody is coming to save you. Don’t wait for that raise, starting that podcast, starting that business etc. Nobody is going to magically come and do this for you. You need to do this yourself. Help yourself.

External Links

• https://melrobbins.com