W

CHAPTER THREE

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN

YOU USE IT

hen I used the Rule that first morning, I was as surprised as you are that
something that stupid worked. Counting backwards? 5- 4- 3- 2- 1...
seriously? I didn’t know why it worked. I just knew it did. I had struggled for
months to wake up on time and suddenly the #5SecondRule made changing my
behavior simple.

Later I would learn that when you count backwards, you mentally shift the gears
in your mind. You interrupt your default thinking and do what psychologists call
“assert control.” The counting distracts you from your excuses and focuses your
mind on moving in a new direction. When you physically move instead of stopping
to think, your physiology changes and your mind falls in line. In researching this