How many of you make a good decision and get up right away and get going? If you’re like me, you might think about it some more or put it off until you have more energy. You might decide you need more time or get distracted by something else.
However, research shows that the NEXT FIVE SECONDS are the most important five seconds of your life because you can only ACT in the present plus the next five seconds before something else pops up and kills the impulse.
Mel Robbins gave an excellent Ted Talk on forcing yourself to do what you know you want and need to do, and do it on impulse within five seconds. Don’t sit there and talk to yourself that you need to do it. Don’t think about how to do it. Don’t look up all the ways you could do it, and definitely don’t spend the rest of the day thinking or regretting how you could have done it.
Before you can countdown from five to one, get up and physically push yourself to do what you have decided you need to do. Instead, countdown, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … and get up and go.
Mel calls it activation energy. You need a physical push toward your elusive goals by taking action—not only visualizing or self-talk or mulling, but activating your body to make it real.
“It’s your job to make yourself do the crap you don’t want to do, so you can be everything that you’re supposed to be.” – Mel Robbins
Watch Mel Robbins’s Ted Talk: How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over
What is something you’ve been putting off and meaning to start, any time now?
Decide to do it, and then countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and go for it.
This year, I decided to wake up positive every morning. If I get a little anxiety when I wake, I countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and say a prayer, thanking God that he’s blessed me to see another day. I count the people and situations I’m grateful for and I don’t allow anxiety and worry to take over. I can’t help the waking up with a pounding heart, but I surely can change the next five seconds afterwards.
I also wrote and published eight books, including a book about Bitcoin (Smart Woman’s Guide to Bitcoin). How many times in the past did I “think” about Bitcoin, ask others about it, mull over it, and didn’t take the plunge? Well an old dog can learn new tricks and this year, I learned about cryptocurrency and decided to pass on what I learned to others in an easy-to-understand accessible way.
I had the impulse 3 days before November 1st to join Nanowrimo 2021 and write a complete novel in thirty days. Each day, I knew I had to add to my story, so 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … I opened up my document and put in the words. Lastly, being a writer means a lot of sitting down. I knew I needed more exercise and moving my legs during the day to prevent blood clots. My friend, Stacy, has a under the desk pedal “bike.” I thought about it too much until finally, I went and got one. Now, when I want to rest my eyes or my hands, I pick up a book and sit at the table and pedal.
What have you been putting off? Five seconds …
Books I wrote this year …
I’m having a sale for Dottie’s Christmas Wish (99c the month of December). It’s a sweet and magical single father romance with a cheerful mail carrier who finds a little girl lost at the side of an icy creek. She didn’t wait five seconds before doing what she needed to do, get the girl to safety and call her dad. It was inspired by a real life story of a mail carrier who found a lost child in the snow.
Dottie’s Christmas Wish
All Merry Jolly wants is to make Dr. Colton Dale smile. All his daughter, Dottie, wants is a dog. Will Christmas wishes come true for three lonely hearts?
How about you? What will you do in the next five seconds? It could be life-changing!
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Rachelle Ayala is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her foremost goal is to take readers on a shared emotional journey with her characters as they grow and become more true to themselves. Rachelle believes in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feels that everyone should find love as often as possible, especially if it’s within the pages of a book.
Her book, Knowing Vera, won the 2015 Angie Ovation Award, A Father for Christmas garnered a 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, Christmas Stray received a 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, and Playing for the Save got the 2017 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award in Realistic Fiction.
She is also a writing teacher and founder of the Romance In A Month writing community. She lives in California with her husband and has three children and two birds.
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Rachelle Ayala is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her foremost goal is to take readers on a shared emotional journey with her characters as they grow and become more true to themselves. Rachelle believes in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feels that everyone should find love as often as possible, especially if it’s within the pages of a book.
Her book, Knowing Vera, won the 2015 Angie Ovation Award, A Father for Christmas garnered a 2015 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, Christmas Stray received a 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, and Playing for the Save got the 2017 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award in Realistic Fiction.
She is also a writing teacher and founder of the Romance In A Month writing community. She lives in California with her husband and has three children and two birds.
What an awesome blog post! Thank you for this inspirational message!
Thanks! I have to put a link to that ted talk because it doesn’t load. But yes, it gets me up in the morning and I don’t even have to countdown anymore. 🙂
You remain my shero! You are so focused and get so much done!