Page 50 - The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

Google Chat, and dug into the step-by-step experiences of what someone faces the
moment they choose to change.

As I deconstructed the moment of change, I uncovered something
fundamental about how each and every one of us is wired. Right before we’re about
to do something that feels difficult, scary or uncertain, we hesitate. Hesitation is the
kiss of death. You might hesitate for a just 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.

Ever notice how fast fear and self-doubt take over your head and you start
making up excuses for why you shouldn’t say something or do something? We hold
ourselves back in the smallest, most mundane moments every day, and that impacts
everything. If you break this habit of hesitating and you find the courage to “take
some kind of action,” you’ll be astonished by how fast your life changes. That’s
what Keith discovered after learning the Rule at a RE/MAX convention. Now he’s
able to “do extraordinary things.”

You see, it’s not the big moves that define our lives; it’s the smallest ones.
Within five seconds of stopping to think, you’ll have decided not to take any action
on those small things. Over time, those small decisions build. And here’s the kicker:
We’ve repeated this pattern of hesitating, worrying, and doubting ourselves so
much, that these actions are now habits that have encoded in our brains.