Mind the Gap

Today is day 3 of my new leaf life sans snoozing. I can confidently say this now as I type, but when my silent watch alarm was gently nudging my wrist this morning at 04h30, there was a moment, a gap, when I wasn’t so sure.

This morning I had to invoke Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule as I lay there in that gap. The middle space – the pause – before deciding, doing. It’s the space between falling back or moving forward. Falling back to sleep, slipping back into old ways, or getting up and getting on with my routine I crave.

Falling backward is easy. There is no effort required to choose the easy, comfortable way. And my bed is so comfortable. Isn’t that why we say “falling” back into old habits or “slipping” and letting things “slide”. Falling, slipping, and sliding requires no effort on your part. It’s effortless and implies a lack of accountability. No one falls or slips on purpose?

Moving forward requires effort. Deliberate actions. Thought. Decision making. You don’t involuntarily move. You choose to move. And you are either moving towards a goal or moving away from it. The Slight Edge Principle is a book I refer to often.

Simple productive actions, repeated consistently over time. That, in a nutshell, is the slight edge.

Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge Principle

That gap between doing or not doing something is where the magic happens. But it’s fleeting. According to Mel Robins, it’s 5 seconds, and to quote her, here’s why.

“The 5-second rule is simple. If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it. …. 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.”

Mel Robins, The 5 Second Rule

The gap is where the little things are that seem insignificant on its own. But those little things are what will move you forward or backwards. To snooze or not to snooze? To gym or not to gym. To eat the entire box of McVities Dark Chocolate Digestive biscuits in one afternoon or not? Before you know it one snooze sesh becomes 3 months. But the reverse is also true, one gym sesh could become 3 months of consistent working out.

The things you do every single day, the things that don’t look dramatic, that don’t even look like they matter, do matter. That they not only make a difference — they make all the difference.

Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge Principle

So, mind the gap. It may be 5 seconds but it’s significant.