You know the books that should really be a blog post? This is not that kind of book.

This book should be a really good tweet, with some room to spare.

This is a kind of book where 95%+ of value can be condensed into literally one sentence. The title gives away half of it. Here it is: "If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it."

That's it. There's nothing more to it. Not a single thing.

The full title of the book is The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage but that seems like overkill.

Given all of the above, it may not be a bad thing. I knew full well that there won't be much of actual content beyond the core rule. And there was even less than I thought it would be. While it was infuriating, I was ok with it. Knowing beforehand, I wanted this one idea repeated over and over, so that it sticks.

If you read a smart tweet, you're less likely to dwell on it or remember it a week from now. If you read a book that should be a tweet, you'll remember it a year from now. This was exactly what I wanted.

The author was trying really hard to put more meat on it.

• I found out about research X which proves that The Rule was right.
• There's this idea Y which I stumbled upon a few years later which totally proves that The Rule is groundbreaking.
• Whatever good happened in my life or the lives of my readers? Because of The Rule.
• Whatever bad happened in my life or the lives of my readers? Because we didn't follow The Rule.

In short: the idea is good. It's worth remembering and acting on it often, making it a habit. The book is not good as a literary piece of work but a good one to hammer the same thing into you from all the angles, even from the ones that don't make much sense.