In this book, Mel Robbins introduces us to a rather simple concept.

When you have an impulse, or an idea, you need to act on it within 5 seconds, or your brain will talk you out of it.

So what you need to do to stop that is count backwards – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – and do what needs to get done. It’s a simple premise but one that can help you move from an intention to action. It is a matter of outsmarting your brain to break undesirable habits and move you further towards your goals. Through this, Mel tells us, you’re interrupting any self-doubt, anxiety or procrastination your brain will bring up after those 5 seconds to stop you from moving out of your comfort zone.

When you count down and reach 1, it is acting as your starting ritual of a new habit you want to form, it is a trigger for change.

Within this audiobook, Mel retells her story first time encountering the 5 second countdown, when she came across it in TV during a NASA rocket launch. She used it the very next morning to help her get out of bed on time, without hitting ‘snooze’ button. For the first time in months doing so successfully.

The author has since applied this rule to her everyday life on a more complex level and her audiobook also includes testimonials (albeit way too many of them) of others using the 5 seconds countdown in their everyday lives, sharing with us their outcome.

If you ignore the repetitiveness of this book, the premise it carries actually resonated with me. I’m an overthinker alright but looking back at my life, the best decisions I made were taken on a whim. They were the ones driven by my instinct and for which I didn’t have the time or opportunity to say no to. There was no hesitation.

It is intriguing to try and replicate that pattern on a more frequent basis using the 5 second rule, particularly for smaller, everyday actions. Logically, you know it’s the right thing to do (example to work out, or apply for that job, or introduce yourself to that person) but you don’t feel like doing it. Well chances are, you’re never going to feel like doing everything 100% of the time so the rule might try and help you break those thoughts of self-doubt over the decision.

Due to the simplicity of this rule, the audiobook could have been shortened by half (at a minimum) and still carry its message successfully. However, don’t think it would sell many copies and generate an substantial revenue if it was only a couple of pages long. Despite it though, I still enjoyed the premise it carried, even if instead of listening to this for hours, I could have watched Mel’s much shorter Ted Talk on the subject.