Key Messages
The High 5 Habit: How To Transform Your Life In Just 5 Minutes Each Morning
The High 5 Habit is an amazing book that shows you how one simple habit can completely change your life.
It explains why you should apologize less, and how high fives can restructure your brain chemistry.
It also details how changing your mindset is like doing the laundry – not something to be taken lightly!
The book delves into the science behind the power of the High 5 Habit and provides practical advice on how to make it a part of your daily routine.
With just one simple action repeated every day, you’ll find yourself feeling more connected, optimistic and energized than ever before!
By making the High 5 Habit part of your daily life, you’ll understand why this small act can mean such a big difference in mood and motivation.
The Power Of Self-Encouragement: Start Your Day With A High Five To Your Reflection
If you want to start your day off with a positive attitude, then start by high-fiving your reflection in the mirror.
That’s the message from author Mel Robbins, who admits that she used to be full of self-criticism and anxiety when she faced the mirror each morning – until one day something unexpected happened.
Robbins raised her hand towards her reflection and gave herself a kind of salute.
Then, sticking it out, she high-fived her reflection in the mirror.
It was an act of self-belief, but it made Robbins feel good too!
She decided to make this a habit and soon found that every morning she came away from the mirror feeling actually pretty good about herself.
Robbins realized that instead of being so hard on herself all the time, what if she praised and encouraged herself more? And now, Robbins encourages everyone else to do the same – when you look in the mirror tomorrow morning, don’t waste your time mulling over your failures or worrying about life’s problems.
Instead choose wisely and high five yourself and embrace some self-encouragement!
High Fives Hold The Secret To Feel-Good Motivation: Scientific Research Shows That High Fives Can Make Us Feel Good And Even Change Our Brains
Scientific research has proven the positive power of high fives!
One study looked at a group of school kids, providing each one with tasks to complete.
Some were praising for having special traits or for their hard work, while others were given high fives as an act of motivation.
The result? The children that received high fives kept going the longest and felt the most positively about what they had achieved.
When it comes to using them ourselves, researchers have also found that sending ourselves a high five can be just as effective!
This is what’s known as neurobic practice where we combine a familiar activity such as brushing our teeth, with an unfamiliar twist like sending ourselves a high five in the mirror.
Our brains will recognize something novel and unfamiliar is happening – making it easier to form new neural connections and develop positive attitudes that really stick with us!
Try it yourself – give yourself a high five in the mirror every morning for 5 days straight – you’ll notice how much better you feel afterwards!
The Vicious Circle Of Self-Doubt And Failure: How Learning To Love Yourself Is The Key To Success
Mel Robbins found out the hard way that negative thoughts can lead to a vicious cycle of negative behaviors.
Her story began with an amazing opportunity, which she was offered as a law student: a summer internship at the attorney general’s office in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Robbins took on the challenge but found herself unable to start on the project due to overwhelming fear of failure.
This led to her being called into the attorney general’s office and making up excuses before leaving abruptly.
Things only got worse when she accepted another offer of work at a legal firm in New Mexico; near the date to fly out and start, she called up and claimed a family emergency stopped her from taking it – which had no basis in fact other than her own lack of self-confidence.
In this way, Robbins’ self-destructive behavior was rooted in deeply ingrained patterns of negative thinking about herself; when presented with an opportunity, fear arose because she had little faith in her capabilities or courage.
Thankfully, with help from therapy, Robbins was able to find ways of strengthening her self-belief and understanding how hating yourself could only make you more likely to mess up apart from continuing a spiral of negative behavior.
She eventually developed The High Five Habit as part of her own strategy for tackling self-critical thoughts – doing something positive like giving yourself permission to take risks and applauding successes along your path.
Cleaning Your Reticular Activating System Can Help You Reach Your Full Potential
Our minds are like washing machines – they need regular cleaning and maintenance to ensure everything runs smoothly.
One of these components is the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which filters all the information your brain processes so only the most relevant data reaches conscious thought.
Unfortunately, our RAS can get clogged with unhelpful info, stemming from negative and self-limiting beliefs.
This includes rejections, disappointments, setbacks and insults, among other things.
These emotional residues accumulate over time – eventually blocking our RAS from highlighting the positive information that surrounds us.
That’s why it’s important for us to clean this lint away by developing patterns of self-acceptance and self-love – starting with Robbins’ High Five Habit!
This simple mental exercise teaches our RAS what to look out for by recognizing positives and treating them as important elements in our lives.
So don’t be afraid to give yourself a round of high-fives when you need it – it’ll help train your mind to focus on the good stuff!
The High Five Habit: How To Retrain Your Brain For Positivity
The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins is a great tool for those wanting to break negative thinking patterns and cultivate more positive beliefs.
To do this she recommends three steps: Interrupt your thoughts, use a mantra, and act like the person you want to become.
First, when engaging in self-criticism or feeling self-doubt, pause and refuse to rehash old thought patterns.
By doing so, you’re training your Reticular Activation System (RAS) to disregard them in the future as well.
The second part is to replace old thought patterns with something more supportive – something kinder, more realistic and accurate.
To accomplish this step, develop an uplifting yet true mantra such as “Every day I’m getting a little stronger” or “I deserve to feel good today” and repeat it often in moments of negativity.
Finally, act in ways that demonstrate your newfound belief to be true.
This could mean doing something out of the ordinary like trusting yourself enough to make decisions with confidence or any number of other small steps that can help bring new beliefs into fruition.
The High 5 Habit gives us a simple but incredibly powerful toolkit to kickstart lasting change in our lives.
Stop Apologizing And Start Saying ‘Thank You’: How Gratitude Can Help You Live Bravely And Authentically
The High 5 Habit Book encourages you to replace apologies with gratitude.
Too often, we apologize for things that are out of our control, like needing help or canceling plans.
Though meant as an expression of politeness, it can create a sense of guilt and actually be more annoying than thoughtful.
People don’t want to feel guilty for helping or being understanding.
Rather, it’s nice to be thanked and acknowledged for kindnesses shown.
Showing gratitude not only shows courtesy but also allows you to recognize the value of your own needs without apologizing for them.
It’s difficult to embrace life in a positive way when all you do is say sorry.
But appreciating people’s generosity shifts the focus away from yourself and onto all the good in your relationship instead!
So make this habit part of your high five attitude: show gratitude instead of simply apologizing when somebody goes out of their way for you!
Wrap Up
The High 5 Habit book is all about embracing positive change and improving your life.
Through taking the time to give yourself a high five every morning, you can start each day with intention and optimism.
Additionally, adopting a mindset of identifying positives instead of negatives and pushing yourself to become the person you want to be will help you further your personal growth journey.
To get the most out of your goals, Mel Robbins suggests giving yourself a deadline of three weeks.
Doing so will allow for enough time to create an actionable plan but prevent getting stuck in an endless cycle of procrastination.
All in all, following The High 5 Habit provides an easy way to become more confident and motivated – so why not give it a try?
