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How to stop succumbing to your excuses?

5sec

October 7, 2019

How to stop succumbing to your excuses?

How often do you tell yourself that e.g. today you’re going to the gym and then you find thousands of excuses not to do it? I’m tired, this time the gym is crowded, it’s raining, I haven’t slept enough, tomorrow I will have more energy, it’s too late, etc. Or you have to do something banal e.g. send an e-mail to someone but you procrastinate all the time until you completely forget about it. Everyone struggles with this problem but there is a way to tackle it!

LAUNCH LIKE A ROCKET!

It was the rocket that was the inspiration for the author of the book ,,The 5 second rule””, Mel Robbins. She decided to jump out of bed like a rocket launching into space. So, she was counting 5…4…3…2…1 and immediately got up. Her brain didn’t have time to make thousands of excuses to do several naps because she firstly focused on the activity, and then got ahead of her negative thoughts and got up.

HOW TO OUTWIT YOUR BRAIN?

If you hit upon an idea, your brain tries to persuade you to think it over. It doesn’t discourage you to eat dinner, text back or turn on TV. But it’s afraid of things that require effort, are new and unknown. That’s why, your brain tries to discourage you to take action.

“The more you’re wondering about something the less you’re willing to do it”.

So the best we can do is to start acting before your brain starts a demotivating monologue. You need 5 seconds for it. Just count 5…4…3…2…1… and you get up, you take your bag and go to the gym, you start conversation with someone you like, you speak up at the lesson/meeting/work, you throw the cigarette in the trash. Like the most popular Nike’s slogan says: Just do it. Just do it and don’t think about it! Do it before you start to wonder about it and it will be too late!

IMPORTANT!

The author of the 5 second rule emphasizes that we need to count down 5…4…3…2…1 because, after 1, we have to start acting and when you’re counting 1…2…3…4…5, you can continue counting. Remember, you need to launch like a rocket!

The more you think about something, the less chance you will do it.

The article written on the basis of the book “The 5 second rule” by Mel Robbins