Stop procrastinating with the 5 second rule

Stop procrastinating with the 5 second rule

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    Coming straight from the United States, this method promises to “transform your life”. How ? By making a decision in less than 5 seconds. Explanations.

    Do you often put off until tomorrow what you have to do? You are not alone. 85% of French people procrastinate, reveals an Odexa survey for JeChange. To fight against this craving (almost irreversible), there is a simple method: the 5-second rule.

    Popularized by Mel Robbin in his book “The 5 Second Rule”, this technique consists of making a decision and taking action in less than five seconds. According to the author, five seconds is the perfect amount of time to prevent the brain from telling us what to do and preventing us from doing something. “If you have the instinct to act on a goal, you have to physically move within five seconds or your brain will kill it”she explains in her book.

    Making a decision: a two-step operation

    To make a decision, two main currents guide the brain. The first is instinctive, it does not call for reflection. It’s a “fast, intuitive, emotional system and is also much more efficient”, explains in the columns of Glamor the neuroscientist Dr Emma Sarro.

    The second diagram calls for reflection. He is “slower, deliberate, logical, sometimes considered our ‘fact checker’, but also takes more cognitive energy”, explains Dr. Emma Sarro.

    The five-second rule would reconcile these two ways of making a decision. Its objective is to change the thought pattern when making decisions. For Mel Robin, the promise is great. “It only takes 5 seconds to transform your life!”. So, ready to tackle it? You have five seconds.

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