50 pages 1 hour read

Mel Robbins

The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

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Part 5, Chapters 15-17

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “Courage Changes Everything”

Chapter 15 Summary: “Building Real Confidence”

Part 5 of the book explores three ways in which readers can feel more connected with themselves and how self-introspection can unleash inner potential. Robbins first discusses how confidence and personality are connected. Then, she teaches readers how to use everyday courage to pursue their passions. Finally, she explores how to forge deep and meaningful relationships. In each chapter, she provides anecdotal evidence of everyday people who have successfully turned their lives around using these steps. Robbins loves this section most because it explores how self-confidence, passion, and connection with others can be profoundly transformative.

Chapter 15 starts by emphasizing that people often mistake confidence as a personality trait. In doing so, they believe that some people are naturally more confident than others. However, Robbins argues this is false: Confidence is a skill that people can hone. Extroverts may be more at ease speaking in public, but this does not necessarily mean they are confident. Robbins herself is a loud extrovert who held deep anxieties and insecurities for much of her life. Introverts, on the other hand, might have a lot of confidence in their ideas and perspectives but lack the courage to speak up.

Everyday courage is the ability to step up, act out of character, and face fears.