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I cannot even tell you how much I do not feel like writing this post right now. And yet, here I am, thanks to the five second rule.
It’s okay to not feel like doing things sometimes; we all have those days. Today, I had a long day at work, I got up early to go for a jog, and I haven’t eaten as much as I should’ve, so I’m feeling a little off.
However, despite all of that, I’m showing up.
That’s the key to whatever it is you want to do. Show up, do the work. It doesn’t matter if you’re not feeling like doing it; I promise you’ll feel so much better once you have. Feeding the creative side of yourself is a necessary part of your daily routine, even if it’s just for five minutes.
So, lovely people, if I may ask something of you, it’s this: wherever you are as you’re reading this, whatever you’re doing, whatever time it is, plan to take at least five minutes before the end of your day to do something you love. It can be as little as making yourself a to-do list or reaching out to your friend to schedule a co-working coffee date. Make the effort now, before the moment passes.
I really love self-help books. I’ll give you a rundown in the near future of which ones are my favourite, and why, but the one that’s resonating with me right now is Mel Robbin’s “The 5 Second Rule”. In this book, she teaches the importance of acting on a thing within five seconds. Once that time has passed, we’re significantly more likely to put off the task or forget about it entirely. As soon as you decide you’re going to sit down and write 500 words right now, and you think “I don’t really feel like it…”, you start counting backwards from five.
Five, four, three, two, one, WRITE.
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t count up from one. That makes you naturally think you can keep counting upwards, as opposed to counting backwards which reads/sounds like a shuttle launch. BLAST OFF and fly into your dreams and aspirations.
This rule can be applied to so many different aspects of our lives, from committing to waking up early, to getting off your ass to go turn over the laundry. Counting backwards from five allows us to challenge ourselves, and I’m sure I’m not the only one of us who’s competitive to a fault.
I also think it’s important that we ask ourselves WHY we don’t want to do the thing. Sure, as I said, I’m tired, cranky, and getting a little hangry— bless my fiancé, he’s making me dinner while I sit in the sun and write this— but these aren’t legitimate reasons to not do the thing. I told myself that I’m going to post a new blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and there are only so many hours left of Wednesday. I’m in a competition with myself.
This page is brand new, so it’s not like I’d be letting down my hundreds of thousands of adoring fans by not posting today. However, I’d be letting myself down. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone other than myself. And frankly, procrastinating hangry Meghan can fuck right off. I’m entering a new chapter in my life, one where I’m going to kick ass and take names, and I’m not letting anyone get in the way of that— least of all me! If it takes using the five second rule to get out of my own way until I’ve made that a habit, that’s what I’ll do!
One of Mel Robbin’s more powerful quotes from her book is this: “Hesitation is the kiss of death. You might hesitate for just a nanosecond, but that’s all it takes. That one small hesitation triggers a mental system that’s designed to stop you. And it happens in less than— you guessed it— five seconds.” When you really sit and think about that theory, doesn’t it make you a little sad in a way? Not because it’s a fact of life, but because of how many amazing opportunities you let slip by as you hesitated. I know I can think of many things I wish I’d jumped the gun on. But I choose not to believe in regret.
I choose to believe that every mistake I’ve made, every wrong decision, every hesitation that lost me an opportunity, lead me to become the woman I am today. And the woman I am today is AWARE that hesitating is a problem, so I’m endeavouring to not do it anymore. Prior to this realization, I was blissfully ignorant to the fact that the thing that was in the way of my own greatness and bad-assery was always ME.
And so I now find myself happily devouring a breakfast wrap, and feeling significantly less stressed out than I was before I sat down. I wasn’t even necessarily stressed out about writing, I just felt like doing nothing because the rest of my day was riddled with busyness and stress. I, in this moment, am the example you might be looking for to show you that doing something for yourself will cause a domino effect of positive life changes.
Mel Robbins also says in this book that motivation is a myth. You can choose to believe that, and prefer to think that dedication is the key to lasting success, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with motivation inherently. I think that countdown is a great motivating thing to give me that extra get-up-and-go. Dedication and motivation go hand-in-hand; you’re not doing anything wrong by preferring one over the other.
This has been an incredibly round-about way of telling you that even though it IS okay to not feel like doing the thing you want to do, it’s NOT okay to blame the world if you choose not to do it. You’re capable of amazing and wonderful things, and you deserve to know that for yourself. I’m challenging you all to employ the five second rule when next you want to spread your all powerful wings of amazingness, and let me know what you achieve as a result of that.