⁃ Mel Robinson a lawyer by profession in the USA had an epiphany, one day when she was watching a space shuttle lift off, before going to bed. That famous count down gave her an insight and made her wonder if she could use it to launch herself out of bed in the morning. The following morning when the alarm went off she started counting down from 5 to 1 and afterwards she got up without procrastinating. Having said that she was really impressed by her discovery and spent 3 further years researching and scientifically proving if her 5 seconds rule countdown works. She went on deliver a Ted talk about it and the world was listening. Many tried to use it and many found it to be a vital tool to eschew procrastination echoing arguably one of the most powerful tag lines “Just do it” used by Nike. Therefore it could be argued that- Just do it- is the concept and the 5 second rule or the countdown is the tool. I said or the countdown because I believe that the count down could start at any figure and be just as effective. Some people could start at 3 simultaneously some could start at 10 depending on preference.
⁃ However scientifically, it is argued that the moment you have an instinct to act upon something, you only have 5 seconds to act on it before your brain shuts it down.
⁃ Therefore counting down from 5 to 1 makes sense. The countdown does not only awaken the pre frontal cortex but disrupts your negative patterns. From this point of view this tool could be used to disrupt any bad patterns. Try it and see if it works for you, do not let the biological imperatives go out of hand, if they do start using this tool.
⁃ You can’t control how you feel but you can control how you act. For instance you might feel attracted to someone but it is within you to have the courage to talk to the person or you would rather choke. Another common example is that of Marathon athletes, they can’t control their exhaustion but more often than not many choose to continue running rather than stoping.
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⁃ The countdown tool gives you the courage and with courage you have the impetus to do or change things. You might not change the world but I guarantee you that you will change yourself for the better. Many across the globe tried it and successes range from having the voice to running multi-dollar businesses. That said it can help to boost your productivity, live a healthy life, cut futile procrastination and so forth.
⁃ Mel Robinson discovered this tool at 41, stuck in the swamp (despair) and now she is living a purposeful life even successful, she a doctor now.
⁃ If you can change the morning routine you can change everything. Try the 5,4,3,2,1 rule to wake up early in the morning. Set up your early alarm and do the wake up challenge and boom you are awake it could take a lot to wake up but it will get better as the day prolongs. Sleep inertia, you will require more energy to wake than you need to get by rest of the day. In a similar vein science says that more energy is required to initiate the movement than to sustain the velocity. To reach your potential you gonna have to push yourself to take that first leap. The general consensus here is that you can accomplish more if you wake up early in the morning however it could be argued that productiveness and efficiency has more value and different folk are best productive and efficient at different times. Some feel productive and creative at night ironically some feel the same in the morning. Some at various times through out the day. Albeit the widely known productive hours are the first hours of your day, before your mind is distracted or bombarded by a myriad of thoughts. In other words that’s when you exhibit maximum freshness.
⁃ Which takes us to the importance of taking a nap. Winston Churchill was known for taking naps during the hit of World War II. As a result he attributed his successes to the naps he took. So don’t be hard on yourself by forcibly trying to keep awake throughout the day like a hard man, it’s ok to take a nap. You will be restarting and refreshing the mind.
⁃ Taking a nap is like an episode of productive procrastination- allowing your mind to wander as part of the creative process, sometimes we do this because we are stressed.
In conclusion conquer your doubts and fears, just do it. As Miyamoto Musashi (a great swords man) said
Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.
Max Mteliso’s words 