JOANNA CAREW

You know that feeling, when something stirs inside of you and you have a strong sense of what to do. It’s not rational, there’s no logic or reason, yet the feeling is undeniable. This is instinct. Trust it.

I spent years ignoring my instinct. I wound up completely conflicted with instinct alerts blaring out and my head doggedly ignoring them. Yet, my instincts never disappeared and when I eventually started to listen, I transformed my decision making.

Science of Instinct

The following articles are a fantastic starting point to learn why about instinct and why you should trust it:

Intuition: when is it right to trust your gut instincts? by David Robson for the BBC. This is the author of my favourite book, Expectation Effect (see blog #8 A mental reading list). 

Go with your gut: the science and psychology behind our sense of intuition, by Bianca Nogrady for the Guardian.

How to stop overthinking and start trusting your gut, by Melody Wilding for the Harvard Business Review.

Applying Instinct

Just because I have a instinctive feeling about someone (or something), should I apply that instinct to my actions? Yes! Here’s why:

Your instinct has just scanned the person/situation, taking readings on multiple metrics that you are not even aware of (see above science articles). It has also cross-checked this data against everything stored in your mental computer. Your gut feeling has been attributed using the results of this advanced data processing.

Why would you ignore such high-level analytics?!

Trusting Instinct

If you habitually outthink your instinct, pushing the feeling aside, then it is time to retrain yourself.

Every time you sense that feeling, pause. Take a moment to be curious and ask your instinct to report its findings to you. This process becomes second nature and your instinct will articulately explain itself. You then choose what to do.

Acting on instinct can relate to anything: for example, not doing something, or choosing to do something that unsettles you.

Before choosing instinct check how strong it is. Sometimes I am actually being impulsive and pretending to use instinct. I recognise this by looking for a sick feeling underlying the choice – that’s the impulse – the genuine instinct will be buried a bit deeper and not yet have been heard.

Sometimes, I decide not to choose instinct. In this situation I thank the instinct, and note it, then proceed cautiously, aware that it might be necessary to fall back on instinct at a later date.

Whichever way you act – with instinct, or against it – you can now trust it. This brings a deep sense of wellbeing, sort of a grounding because you made your decisions transparently within yourself.

Logic Bamboozle

This is the unhappy alternative, when we trick ourselves out of believing in instinct. We’ve all been there, you have a strong instinct, but your head tries to bamboozle you into acting otherwise.

Imagine: 

You meet a guy. He promises to transform the marketing for your business and generate 50% more leads. He was recommended to you by a trusted friend, he has a flashy slide deck and some impressive clients.

Then your instinct says there is something ‘off’, just a feeling, nothing tangible. So, you question his figures and methods, but rather than specifics he responds with sweeping statements, and your instinct starts screaming: “it’s all bluster, it’s not right, don’t use this guy!”

Your head kicks in: “he did answer the question, he just couldn’t be more specific because your industry is different to the other clients. Look, they have big clients, clearly they wouldn’t choose him unless he offered decent returns. Plus, he was recommended to you and we can increase our business by 50%, we need new business, we need this.”

Your intuition disliked this guy straight away. Your head is convincing you by discrediting your instinct’s concerns. I call it the logic bamboozle.

Transform Decision Making

I used to bamboozle myself all of the time, I made a lot of poor decisions, and felt choked with regret and turmoil. Whereas, by trusting my instinct it has morphed into my valued adviser. I listen to it and then make decisions, recruiting logic as an ally.

In the above scenario I would hone down my concerns, discuss them openly with marketing guy, and probably not go ahead because of my instinctive distrust of him (after all there are 1000s of marketing companies). Notwithstanding, if with further information I chose to go ahead, I’d look at reducing risk, for example by running a test project before agreeing a larger contract. Then check in with my instinct along the way.

What can I say, trust your instinct. It’ll bring you a sense of equilibrium and transform your decision making.