Welcome to Network Marketing Pro.

And today we have a special guest.

If you don't recognize her already this is the one and only Mel Robbins.

How are you doing Mel.

Mel: I am alright.

Actually I am fantastic.

Eric: You are actually fantastic.

This woman is a powerhouse.

And she spoke at our recent GoPro Recruiting Mastery event.

I first heard of her because I spoke at a company convention, a network marketing convention,

and you, we didn't meet that day.

But you had spoke earlier in the day.

And everybody was raving about the 5 second rule, the 5 second rule.

And I am like what the heck is the 5 second rule.

Because I hadn't hear about it.

I had tons of people like rushing up to me, that day, at the airport, everywhere.

They were like "Sorry the 5 second rule, I have to talk to you cause it's in the 5 seconds.

Once I heard about the concept.

I was really intrigued because, it was an interesting thought.

It's like a Malcolm Gladwell thought.

Mel: I love that you said that because I have a brain crush on him.

Eric: Do you?

Mel: Yes.

Eric: Like, he has his 10,000, whether it's the tipping point thought or the 10,000 hours

in order to become an expert.

These little tiny things, I don't even remember most of the rest of the book.

But I remember that.

Mel: Right.

Eric: And it made an impact.

And it stayed with me.

It was sticky.

And I watched people that, who have engaged in the 5 second rule, and it's sticky.

It is.

They, it changes the way, fundamentally that they look at life.

Mel: Yes.

Eric: So.

Tell me how this whole thing, where did it come from?

Mel: (Laughs) Oh it came from the worst moment of my life.

So the 5 second rule is one of those amazing things that first of all, it's so simple,

so obvious, and on some level, I am just going to come right out and say it.

It's kind of stupid when you first hear it.

I don't want you to make the mistake of dismissing the power of this thing because it sounds

a little silly, obvious or stupid.

Because there is some ridiculous science behind it.

So the bottom line is, short story, 2009, like a lot of people that are watching, my

husband and I hit rock bottom, financially, facing bankruptcy, we were fighting all the

time.

The liens started to hit the house and I developed a habit of hitting the snooze button.

Now in the scheme of life, having a habit of hitting the snooze button, and getting

up late, and kind of starting your day off on the wrong foot, it's not that big of deal

in theory.

But what you know, and what you absolutely are teaching people around the world.

It's actually the smallest moves in your routine and the discipline and decisions that you

make every day, that turn from somebody is just thinking about doing something to someone

who is a pro at doing something.

And so for me, I had this habit of hitting the snooze button all the time.

And I was very frustrated, because I knew what I should be doing.

I knew that successful people don't hit the snooze button every morning.

I don't think Richard Branson lays in bed and hits the snooze button three or four times

and picks up his phone and main lines Facebook.

He's not doing that.

You aren't doing it either.

I knew that at this point in my life, that I should be out looking for, you know, another

opportunity, I should be reaching out to friends.

I should be exercising.

But I wasn't doing it.

And you see this is something that the 5 second rule will help you do.

It's going to help you bridge the gap between knowing what to do, and actually getting off

your butt and doing it.

And it does it in 5 seconds flat.

So, what happened, this is a really dumb story but this is actually what happened.

I got inspired because I saw a commercial that had a rocket ship launching.

And I thought I am just going to launch myself out of the bed, like a rocket tomorrow morning.

I am going to count backwards, like NASA.

So the next morning, liens on the house, fighting with my husband, all kinds of problems, feeling

like a loser, the alarm goes off, I immediately feel like I don't want to get up.

But I started counting backwards.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then I stood up.

And that was how I discovered it.

And I am going to be honest with you.

For the first two to three years Eric, that I used it.

I had no clue why it worked.

It was if somebody had handed me a magic wand.

And suddenly I had control over myself, because what happens when you first start using the

5 second rule.

And the way that you use it is this.

The moment that you have an instinct to act on a goal.

So its one of those should moments.

You know if you, you obviously listen to Eric, so you know what you should be doing to grow

your business.

So all day long you are going to have that instinct, where you are like, "Oh this is

a cold prospect marketing moment going.

Here we go.

Oh act like I am in a hurry and compliment the person, and you know, if I could, would

you.

You know the steps to do, right?

But the problem is, you stop and think.

And the moment you stop and think you are going to get trapped there.

So the 5 second rule, you have a should moment, you know what Eric has taught you to do.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, move.

Now what happens when you count backwards, and this is why the rule is crazy.

Is you are actually leveraging an amazing amount of silence.

It's not just a silly little mantra to do.

You are manually switching the gears in your brain.

So I didn't know this in 2009.

All I knew is that suddenly I was getting up on time.

Suddenly I would 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and walk out the door and get to the gym.

I would 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and I would get in the car and drive to the bank and deal with

our financial issues.

I would 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and stop myself Eric, before I snapped at Chris or the kids.

I would 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and I would put down the Bourbon and walk away after one Manhattan

because we all know that after two you are not that nice.

So nothing good happens, as my husband likes to say to our teenage daughters, "Nothing

good happens after midnight, so make sure you are home by then."

Eric: Right.

Right.

Right.

Mel: And nothing too great happens for sure after the second Manhattan and in my case

not so great after the first one.

So I started to use it to basically interrupt my habits of doubting myself, of overthinking,

of hesitating, grabbing the drink, snapping at the kids, all that kind of emotionally

driven behavior.

Eric: Defaults.

Mel: Yeah, yeah.

Defaults completely.

It's a way that you can in a moment have that inner wisdom of knowing what you should do.

Because we all know what we should do.

It's actually a tool that you can use to interrupt the default behaviors that are encoded in

your Basel Ganglia, count backwards 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, it does a bunch of remarkable things

at once, number 1 it interrupts the habit loops in your Basel Ganglia.

Eric: What's a Basel Ganglia?

Mel: Basel Ganglia is the interior part of your brain, it is the part of the brain where

all of your default behavior patterns are encoded.

Eric: Ok.

Mel: Everything from procrastination, to self doubt, to anxiety, to the way that you pour

your coffee.

To whether or not you write with your right hand.

Eric: All of your programming stuff.

Mel: Correct.

So when I use the word habits, this is all new to me.

Habits are nothing more than behaviors that you can do without thinking about them.

And 50% of your day, what we know based on research, is that 50% of your days you are

in a default mode, you are on auto pilot.

Your body is basically just executing habits all day.

From how you pour your coffee, to how you pull on your pants.

You probably put on one leg before the other, you don't even think about it.

You do it the same way every day.

Believe it or not, self doubt, hesitating, telling yourself you are afraid to talk to

your friends about your business, overthinking the list of calls that you need to make, those

can become habits.

Patterns that are default behaviors that you repeat over and over and over without even

realize you are doing it.

Eric: So fascinating because, inside of the network marketing space, and it's got to be

everywhere in the world, but we deal with people in network marketing, right.

All the time.

They have hopes and fears, that's why they joined.

Mel: Yes.

Eric: And you see in some people, that just are paralyzed, absolutely paralyzed and don't

know why.

They are like, "Ah I am stuck.

I just can't seem to do it." and another day goes by they didn't get fired.

They didn't get kicked out of the business so they can repeat that behavior, but their

self esteem drops and drops and drops.

And they are like, "I know what I need to do.

Why can't I make myself do it."

Mel: I know why, I know why.

Let me see if I can explain this very succinctly.

The problem is that you have a habit of getting stuck up here.

You will never grow your network marketing business by thinking about it.

It's not happening.

And what I can tell you based on years and years of research, because, in trying to figure

out why does something, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, so simple, create such profound change, at not

only a behavioral, but a neurological, and a mindset and a habit level for people all

over the world.

The reason why you are having an issue, if you feel paralyzed or stuck is because you

spend too much time thinking.

And thinking too much itself becomes a habit.

Now here's what I want you to understand.

The only cure, the only cure for paralysis, the only cure for fear, the only cure for

feeling insecure, the only cure for feeling like a loser, like you are going to fail at

this thing, the only cure for the hopes and dreams, is action.

That's it.

And so I love the 5 second rule and it's so important for you to understand in your business

and start to use.

Is because it is not a tool for thinking.

It's a tool for action.

It's a tool that teaches you to catch yourself the moment you start thinking and feeling

paralyzed, and doing one of those "UH OH.

This isn't going to work."

And you go down and you start thinking about all these things.

And talking yourself out of it.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

It is how you interrupt that pattern of feeling paralyzed.

You quiet the self doubt, you quiet the paralysis and then you do something humongously important,

by counting backwards 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, you have just woken up your pre-frontal cortex.

Now the pre-frontal cortex, see his beautiful forehead right here.

Eric: I have a good one.

Mel: That's why he is so successful.

Because it is big and he uses it all the time.

The pre-frontal cortex is the part of your brain that is active when you are changing

behavior, when you are doing something new, when you are doing something that you are

excited about, and when you are doing something that is difficult, or uncertain.

So, let me give you an example.

I am righty, that's a habit I taught myself and started defaulting to the right hand,

right.

Now Eric could tie my hand behind my back and say Mel I want you to try to write with

your left hand.

Now I could try to write GoPro with my left hand but it would require this entire part

of my brain.

My brain would be so focused on trying to make those letters go.

And if my son came in and said, "Hey Mom.

Can I have a grilled cheese?"

I would literally do one of those "I can't talk to right now, because I have to focus."

And the reason why that your pre-frontal cortex is firing up is because it's got to use all

it's power to talk to the hand and direct the behavior, and forge new neural pathways.

So what happens when you count backwards 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, is you interrupt the default part