GROWTH

How do you know what your gut instinct is trying to tell you?

When making important decisions, what drives the choices you make? How do you know that the path you are choosing to go down in the right one for your business? Where does the decision-making process start?

For me, whenever I have been presented with an opportunity which really excites me, one for some reason I feel it is right to pursue, it is usually my gut which tells me – even before I have had the time to dig into all the facts and really look deeper.

Some research into this suggests that as humans we never make any decisions purely based on logic – our decisions are based on a mixture of logic and emotion. We have the ability to feel and therefore make decisions without conscious reasoning.

When we only have some of the facts presented to us to aid our logical decision, our gut instinct kicks in to fill the gap. With every interaction, meeting, presentation or business issue, our brain is learning all the time.

So, perhaps trusting your gut instinct isn’t such a game of chance after all?

This doesn’t mean that we should ignore the facts and data that is at our disposal, but in the absence of hard facts, or when all the facts and data you do have at your disposal does not present you with the full picture or does not make a strong enough case one way or the other, then going with your gut instinct by all accounts is a less risky strategy than the description suggests.

In fact, the “gut instinct” phenomenon has often been referred to as your subconscious helping you to make a decision. How often have you had a bad feeling about someone or something and turned out to be right?

Our subconscious mind is incredibly powerful and it often picks up on subtle hints and cues that we consciously miss. This is where the gut instinct comes from, it’s not able to be internally articulated, precisely because it is coming from our subconscious.

So, when you have a good feeling about something, it isn’t always just wishful thinking. It could be preferable to doing nothing and delaying progressing your growth plans.

Learning to trust that instinct and how it manifests can be tricky. It’s an area I love to explore with my clients, please reach out today and I’ll be happy to discuss with you.