There are a lot of people in the world, and you can be one of them who has these amazing ideas. You also feel that motivation is lacking and that isn’t accurate. Because of the way our brains are wired and the reality that humans are not designed to accomplish things that are uncomfortable, frightening, or challenging. Because our brains are working to keep us alive, they are built to shield us from those things.
And you’ll have to do things that are challenging, uncertain, or frightening in order to change, establish a business, raise a family, be the best spouse, and accomplish all the things you know you want to achieve with your life, job, and aspirations, which creates this issue for all of us. You’ll never have the urge to do it. You would ask me ” What makes you think that?”. I know exactly why because I’ve spent so much time studying this. Because one of the most difficult things for me to figure out was why it was so difficult to do the little things that would improve my life.
And I’ve come to understand that the way our minds are made is that they’re made to prevent you at all costs from doing something that could harm you. It all starts with a really small detail that none of us ever notice, which is how this whole process happens. We all have a habit that no one ever talks about, and that is the case here.
Everybody hesitates frequently. Our thought is. It’s meeting time, and you’re seated. When you have a brilliant thought, you pause and think before speaking it rather than just stating it.
It wakes up your brain, and your brain goes, oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, and wait some more. Why is he delaying? He put on his menacing spiked sneakers without any hesitation. With the incredibly fantastic track pants, he didn’t think twice. With the NASA T-shirt, he didn’t think twice. He’s now hesitant to speak. Something must be wrong. Your brain then begins to defend you. It protects you in a million different ways. The spotlight effect is one of them. It’s a well-known phenomenon that your brain exaggerates risk. Why? To distract you from something it considers to be a problem.
As a result, you may actually link reluctance and silence to each and every issue you have. Those are judgments. What I do and what has revolutionized my life is that I wake up and realize that I will never feel like doing things that are difficult, challenging, unsure, frightening, or novel. Therefore I must stop holding off until I’m in the mood.
And #2. An entirely different marriage, a totally different life, a totally different work, a totally different income, and a totally different relationship with my children are all just a single decision away for me. You know, you could be having a conversation with your spouse when you feel your emotions rising up. Within a tiny window, those emotions can take over and can impact how your marriage goes, or you can learn how to take control of that micro-moment. Not like one decision I’m divorcing you in the marriage example. And decide to take actions that genuinely change your marriage. Your life is ultimately determined by your choices, and if you alter your choices, everything will change.
Pressing the snooze button is hardly a huge issue in the grand scheme of things. But life is like that, you know. None of us wake up and decide that this is the day we destroy our lives. What happens is that we kind of tune out because it feels overwhelming, because we’re terrified, because we start listening to self-doubt, or because we do all three. After that, we spend the entire day making these minute selections. We are unaware of it. Choosing not to wake up on time and choosing not to consume the correct food. a choice to yell at your children. a choice not to speak during a meeting. a choice not to look for work. choose not to manage your finances. a choice to refrain from calling your parents about whatever it is.
These insignificant choices divert you from your course all day long. You then look at your life and ask, “How the heck did I get here?” like I did when I woke up. What’s more, how are you going to get back over there? And you are clueless. So you were really stuck. You were aware that there was still more in store for you, but you were unsure of how to bridge the gap. How do you discover the strength you possess? How do you come to know who you are? How do you address these issues? When you can’t, it’s so overpowering.
I became embroiled in a conflict with myself that many of us experience, and that is when we become mired in what I refer to as the knowledge-action gap. Despite knowing what to do, you find it difficult to really carry it out properly. Everyone has access to a list of instructions that, if followed, will change their lives with only one Google search, after all. But how can you get out of your own head, stop contemplating what needs to be done, and really carry it out? And in my case, this was all fairly simple;
Wake up on time. Prepare breakfast for the children. Put them on the bus. Start your employment search. Reduce your alcohol intake. Call a friend instead of isolating yourself. Go outside and take a stroll around the woods. Go on a run again. I could do all these minor things, but I was unable to leave this place. I was unable to leave this place. And if you’re stuck, that’s the issue. You are the source of the issue. You are contemplating.
Your brain assists you when you make goals or have the desire to change a particular aspect of your life. Your brain then starts working to try to remind you of that intention you stated as the checklist is opened. And mastering talent is really crucial. And I use that word deliberately, using the ability to rapidly listen for inner guidance and stick to a goal. Hence, my brain is telling me that’s it right there and is moving as quickly as rocket mail. I wanted to change my life, and I believe that most people who are unhappy or who are dying to be great and have more want to do the same. We want to make a difference. We want to live a more fulfilling life. We want to make more things for our families. We’d like to be happier. The desire has reappeared. It is about moving from knowledge to action. So the first important point in the story is realizing that the answer was within me and that my mind was telling me to pay attention.
There is a 5-second timeframe for every person. possibly even shorter for you. Prior to your brain going into overdrive and sabotaging any change in behavior, you have around a five-second window in which to get from concept to action. For, as you may recall, your brain is designed to prevent you from doing things that are unsettling, unsure, or frightening. Your task is to figure out how to get from having those ideas that might alter everything to acting on them.
Everything in your life will change once you realize the importance of making decisions in less than five seconds and that you always have the option to switch from autopilot to decision-maker. You will have changed as a negotiator. In sales, you will be different. You’ll realize how much crap you put in the way of your hopes, dreams, potential, confidence, and courage, and you’ll be unstoppable in the gym as a result.
Everything depends on the choices you make. We are all aware of what to do. None of us are aware of how to motivate ourselves. I started looking into it. Why does something so foolish function? Why? Why does something so absurd cause such a strong and significant change? Here’s why, though.
A sort of metacognition is the rule. Metacognition is a fancy word for something really straightforward. Your brain can be outwitted. There are tactics you can employ to further your goals that truly outsmart the psychological games your brain performs with you. We all understand that this is in service of a bigger goal. If the occasion warrants it, you have the ability to exercise restraint. For the sake of your child or dog, you can leap into a raging river. We all realize that this is for a higher good. If the occasion warrants it, you have the ability to exercise restraint. For the sake of your child or dog, you can leap into a raging river.
You can direct yourself in certain ways if it is significant to you, and the rule is that it does something truly remarkable. When you count backward, you get 54321. You’re actually interrupting what researchers call habit loops, which are encoded as closed-loop patterns in your basal ganglia. That is the region of the brain where your feelings, emotions, and every habit that you have, which is nothing more than behavior that you repeat without thinking about it, are stored. So, when you go 54321, it interrupts what’s going on here that’s spinning without you thinking about it, and it moves and awakens your prefrontal cortex.
So, when you hit one, your habit is broken. So you’ve cut off self-doubt. You may have interrupted by snapping at your children. You’ve taken away my desire to reach for a drink. You’ve ended procrastination. You’ve also done it in action by counting backward. It has stimulated your prefrontal cortex. That is part of the brain you require. When you’re changing your behavior or learning new things, you’re awake. When you hit one, it also serves as a prompt. So you’ll hear people talk about starting rituals in academic circles. That is, it is something that has been shown to assist you in developing a new habit.
When you repeat the 5 second rule, it becomes a starting ritual that prompts you to act confidently, prompts you to be courageous, and prompts you to shift gears. You’ve also set yourself up for success by doing the manual work of awakening the part of the brain that needs to be changed. Counting up does not work because you can keep going and counting up does not require focus. When you count backwards from 54321, the prefrontal cortex is activated once more, prompting you to move.
You will discover that it is utilized all over the place after you begin to use it and then read about it. To align troops and get them to begin an exercise, it is used in the armed forces. Because it requires concentration, they use it in primary schools during large assemblies to get a large room full of kids to stop talking. It is not a habit. It will become a habit that prompts you to have confidence and courage, but it will disrupt patterns of behavior that you do on autopilot in the beginning.
It teaches you how to assert control and how to become the type of person who goes from thinking about something to actually doing it. I believe we are all flawed, and that is what makes you unique. And instead of trying to be perfect in every area, it’s much easier to accept the things you’re terrible at, or that are your weaknesses, or that are aspects of your wiring. If I had diabetes, I would take insulin. “I was born with a predisposition to anxiety”. It’s not a big deal. So, instead of fighting those things, figure out how to trick them. Because the truth is that you will never feel prepared to make these changes. You’re never going to want to do them. However, you can always make a decision that is entirely within your control.
It is a choice to stay with someone who treats you like garbage. Staying at a job you despise is a choice. Staying in a body that you are unhappy with is a choice. Is it going to be simple? No, it will not be easy to change. It’s straightforward.
Do a Google search, and then use the 5-second rule to force yourself to do the things you’ve listed.
Change is determined by 5-second decisions, which is why everyone should be aware of the 5-second Rule. It is your responsibility to push yourself. And I don’t care if you’re Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Michelangelo, or Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton. You will struggle with self-doubt and the people you admire. Everybody. And the list is the same: Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Jay-Z, but do you know what they do? They are not vulnerable to hesitating. They have confidence and trust in themselves.
