The 5 Second Rule Book Summary/Review (This can Change Your Life)

Before discussing The 5 Second Rule Book, let’s first discuss the Book’s Author, Mel Robbins. Melanie Robbins, Known as Mel Robbins, is an American on- Air CNN Commentator, Television host, Host, Author, and Motivational Speaker. Robbins is widely known for covering the George Zimmerman trial; her TED X talk, How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over, with over 15 million views on YouTube alone; and her book, The 5 Second Rule.

The 5-Second Rule Book summary:

The 5 Second Rule Book teaches you to Enrich your life and avoid doubts in just 5 Seconds. In the Book, The Author Says that Throughout your life you have your parents, teachers, friends, and mentors who have pushed you to be better than your excuses and more significant than your fears, but the author says what if the secret to having the confidence and courage to enrich your life and work is simply knowing how to push yourself?

Mel used the science of habits, riveting stories, and surprising facts from some of the most famous moments in history, art, and business. Mel Robbins will explain the power of a “push moment.”  Then, she’ll give you one simple tool you can use to become your most fabulous self.

In The 5 Second Rule Book, You Will Discover and understand that it takes only 5 seconds to Become Confident, Break the habit of procrastination and self-doubt, Beat fear and uncertainty, Stop worrying and feel happier, and Share your ideas with courage.

The 5 Second Rule Book is a simple, one-size-fits-all solution for the one problem we all face—we hold ourselves back.

Let’s Understand The 5-Second Rule Book in More Detail:

Chapter 1: Five Seconds to Change your Life

This Chapter starts with an Inspirational line that says, “THAT IF YOU ARE IN SEARCH OF THAT ONE PERSON WHO WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, THEN LOOK IN THE MIRROR.”

These are very simple words but with profound Meanings. It says that you are responsible for bringing change in your life.

The author gives us the gist of the coming chapters in this chapter. She says that you will learn something remarkable-it’s just 5-second that can change your life.

She says that maybe you find it a gimmick, but it’s not, it’s science, and she will prove it to you with this book.

She shared that she learned this rule when her life was worsening.

The author says: When I used the Rule for the very first time seven years ago, I thought it was silly. Little did I know I had invented a powerful metacognition technique that would change everything about my life, work, and sense of self.

The author says that the 5-second rule is easy to learn and has a profound impact. The Rule will help you live, love, work and speak with greater confidence and courage daily. Use it once, and it’ll be there whenever you need it.

The Author says that The 5 Second Rule changed everything … by teaching me just one thing: HOW to change. The Author says Yes, the Rule will help you wake up on time, but what it does is something far more remarkable—it wakes up the inner genius, leader, rock star, athlete, artist, and change agent inside you.

We face so many problems in our lives. We face daily problems. The author says that every day we face moments that are difficult, uncertain, and scary. Your life requires courage. And that is precisely what the Rule will help you discover—the courage to become your most fabulous self.

Now You must be thinking, How Can One Simple Tool Work in So Many Powerful Ways?

Then for this Author says that The #5SecondRule is only ever working on one thing—YOU. You have greatness inside of you. Even at your lowest point, greatness is there. The Rule will give you the clarity to hear that greatness and the courage to act on it.

Read More: The Miracle of Mindfulness Summary By Thich Nhat Hanh

Chapter 2: How I Discovered the 5-Second Rule

This Chapter started with Remarkable words by J.R.R. Tolkien: “COURAGE IS FOUND IN UNLIKELY PLACES.”

In this chapter, the Author discusses her life story and how everything was falling apart. She says that in 2009 she was 41 years old and facing significant problems with money, work, and marriage. As soon as she woke up each morning, all she felt was dreading how she was ruining her life. She knew what she wanted but she was lacking in taking action. She knew what she needed, but she failed to take action, which made changing so hard. Change requires you to do things that feel hard and scary. Change requires courage and confidence—and she was tapped out of both.

The author says that she used to think a lot. She never took action. The only thing she used to do was think; thinking made everything worse. The more she used to think about the situation that we were in, the more afraid she felt.

Your mind does that when you focus on problems—it magnifies them. The more we get worried, the more uncertain and overwhelmed we become. The more we think, the more paralyzed we feel, and that thinking never allows you to take action. All it does is make you stressed and make you ignorant.

All she wanted was to get up from bed, make breakfast, ready her children for school, take the kids on the bus, and then search for jobs. But she was failing because she didn’t want to do it. She wasn’t ready to do it; Later, the Author Realised and learned that she was stuck in what researchers call a “habit loop.” And This Realisation changed everything in Her Life.

Author says :

The instinct to launch herself out of bed was her inner wisdom talking. Hearing it was a tipping point. Following its instructions was life-changing.

Your brain and body send signals to wake up and pay attention. This idea of launching herself out of bed is an example of that.

Your instincts may seem stupid, but they can change your life when you honor them with deliberate action.

There’s more to this point about acting on your instincts than just the phrase “trust your gut.” New research from the University of Arizona, in partnership with Cornell and Duke, has shown a powerful connection between your brain and your instinct to act.

When you set a goal, your brain opens up a task list. Whenever you are near things that can help you achieve those goals, your brain fires up your instincts to signal to complete that goal.

The author gives an Example. Let’s say you have a goal to get healthier. If you walk into a living room, nothing happens. If you walk past a gym, however, your prefrontal cortex lights up because you are near something related to getting healthier.

As you pass the gym, you’ll feel like you should exercise. That’s an instinct reminding you of the goal. That’s your inner wisdom, and paying attention to it is essential, no matter how small or silly that instinct may seem.

The author says that through the #5SecondRule she learned that When it comes to goals, dreams, and changing your life, your inner wisdom is a genius. Your goal-related impulses, urge, and instincts are there to guide you. You need to learn to bet on them. Because, as history proves, you’ll never know when your greatest inspiration will strike and where that discovery will lead you if you trust yourself enough to act on it.

Read More: The Power Of Habit Summary By Charles Duhigg

Chapter 3: What you can Expect when you Use it

This Chapter starts with J.k. Rowling saying: “IT MATTERS NOT WHAT SOMEONE IS BORN, BUT WHAT THEY GROW TO BE.”

Here the author shares her story: The first time she used 5 seconds rule when she used the Rule that first morning, she was as surprised as you are that something that stupid worked. Counting backward? 5- 4- 3- 2- 1… seriously? She didn’t know why it worked. She just knew it did. She had struggled to wake up on time for months, and suddenly the #5SecondRule made changing her behavior simple.

Later she learned that when she counted backward, you mentally shifted the gears in her mind. You interrupt your default thinking and do what psychologists call “assert control.”

The counting distracts you from your excuses and focuses your mind on moving in a new direction. When you physically move instead of stopping to think, your physiology changes, and your mind falls in line.

In researching this book, she discovered that the Rule is (in the language of habit research) a “starting ritual” that activates the prefrontal cortex, helping to change your behavior.

The prefrontal cortex is part of your brain that you use when you focus, change, or take deliberate actions. She knew what the prefrontal cortex was, but she soon learned through her research about the basal ganglia, habit loops, activation energy, behavior flexibility, cognitive biases, neural plasticity, the progress principle, and locus of control. She certainly didn’t realize that she had just discovered a singular technique that impacted all of them.

Read More: The Story of My Life: M.K. Gandhi Summary

This is the end of The 5 Second Rule Book. These were a few chapters of The 5 Second Rule Book. To understand 5 second Rule more clearly, get this book from  Audible for free or buy this book from Amazon.

If you want me to make part 2 of this book can comment in the comment section.

Thank you.