The Five-Second Rule

You probably already know one version of the five-second rule.

You drop food on the floor, but you still want to eat it. So you simply pick it up, quickly examine it, pop it in your mouth, maybe look around to see if anyone saw what you just did, and then yell, “five-second rule!” This so-called rule says dropped food is completely fine to eat if you pick it up in five seconds or less.

I justify such questioned behavior by building a stronger immunity system. But the five-second rule isn't just about bad eating habits.

In The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, best-selling author and former Legal Aid attorney, CNN analyst, and talk-show host Mel Robbins explains how you can use the five-second rule to address procrastination.

The 5 Second Rule is full of stories about people who use the five-second rule to change their behavior to help them achieve their goals. But it’s Robbins’ own story about using the five-second rule to change the trajectory of her own life that is most compelling.

Robbins writes about one of the darkest times of her life. At that time, she was unemployed, confronted with more than $800,000 in debt, and had a drinking problem. She also had a habit of repeatedly hitting the snooze button so that she wouldn’t have to face what the day brought.

But on one particular morning, she decided to do something differently. And that’s when her life changed. Instead of hitting the snooze button, Robbins began her day by counting down from five. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

This simple act of counting down from five, Robbins writes, distracts you from your anxieties and redirects your attention to what you should be doing. By continually doing this, she asserts that you can break a negative cycle and create new and better habits. In other words, you have five seconds to act out before your mind convinces you to do otherwise.

If you’re preparing for the bar exam, maybe you can relate to what Robbins went through. Maybe there are times when you don’t want to get out of bed so you can begin your day of watching lectures, reading outlines, completing multiple-choice questions, and writing essay responses. Or, maybe it’s less extreme, and you simply find it more difficult to add another hour of studying or another set of multiple-choice questions on top of the work you’ve already completed.

If that’s the case, try counting backwards from five to one to prevent your mind from creating a reason not to act.