Mel Robbins, American speaker and television host, is known for erecting a supposedly revolutionary rule in decision-making: the five-second rule. If its author assures that these five seconds can change a life, we will limit ourselves to underlining their impact on the fact of postponing household chores, administrative files, evening prayers…
There are plenty of opportunities to procrastinate, especially during the month of June, when the mental workload reaches record levels. Barely out of the tax declaration – a task postponed until the final date by so many fellow citizens that the website is struggling on D-Day -, now you have to return the re-registration files to school or gym (although nothing has changed in 12 months, except, logically, the age of the parties concerned), responding to the marriage of this distant cousin (to which we are not going), finding a confirmation gift for Anselme (ideas here if needed), make an appointment with the dentist (if you want to have a time slot before Christmas), buy train tickets for the return from Colette’s camp (the longer you wait, the more the prices go up! ). In short, the task is immense, and the temptation to procrastinate just as much.
A temptation that has been pompously called “procrastination” since the 20th century, but which mankind has actually been fighting for centuries. “This habit, so many years old, of perpetual adjournment, of what M. de Charlus stigmatized under the name of procrastination”, writes Proust (The Prisoner). And as proof of this age-old trend, this charming proverb dating from the 13th century:
“What you can do in the morning,
Don’t wait for the next day.
(What you can do in the morning, don’t wait for Vespers or the next day to do it)
Or these verses of Hesiod in Works and Days (8th century):
“Do not procrastinate until tomorrow or the day after.
The man who neglects his work does not fill his barn”.
Even John Paul II had an opinion on the matter: “Yesterday does not belong to you. Tomorrow is uncertain. Only today is yours”, or: “The future begins today, and not tomorrow”, he said.
The five-second rule: “5-4-3-2-1-GO”
Wisdom therefore dictates that “you should never put off until tomorrow what you can do today”. For it, Mel Robbinsspeaker and television host, best-selling author The 5 Second Rule sold over 20 million copies and translated into 36 languages, offers a simple but effective technique: the five-second technique, based on pseudo-scientific data according to which our brain takes about five seconds to go into “procrastination mode “. To avoid this, all you have to do is count “5-4-3-2-1-GO” in your head, like NASA (it was an article on the launch of a rocket that inspired this idea ) and take action.
Indeed, according to her, everything is played in five seconds. “If you want to achieve a goal, you have to get moving, physically, within five seconds. Otherwise, your brain will annihilate this project,” she explains. If we wait too long, the brain gets trapped by some distraction and it becomes very difficult to go back. Focusing on the countdown would avoid letting false excuses or negative emotions take over and hold back the decision. A system of control over one’s own thoughts that scientists call metacognition. Beyond the effectiveness of this method, Mel Robbins also describes psychological benefits. It would lead not only to a surge of self-confidence, stemming from the feeling of accomplishment, but also the impression of taking back control of one’s life, of being its actor.
Of course, this rule only concerns everyday actions whose stakes are limited. Major decisions require a time of discernment which, it goes without saying, is far from being made in five seconds flat.
And applied to his life of faith, does it work?
It seems that this five-second rule can nevertheless be applied to the spiritual life. Who hasn’t been tempted to put off a prayer until tomorrow? But if there is one thing that it is good not to put off until tomorrow, it is this heart to heart with the Lord. This NASA-worthy countdown can perhaps help us not to give up cowardly on spiritual warfare. “5-4-3-2-1-PRAY” you might say. Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity would surely agree. “If I had to start my life over again, how I would like not to waste the slightest moment of my time. Every minute is given to us to root ourselves more in God,” she said. And Saint John of the Cross questions: “In the hour of truth, you will regret not having sacrificed more time to serve God. So why not use your time now as you would like to have done when you died? So “5-4-3-2-1-GO”!
