Why you should trust your gut. Always.
Everyone has heard about ‘going with your gut,’ ‘trust your gut feeling’ and ‘gut instinct.’ That’s as little as most people know. I’m going to share with you a bit more about your gut feeling and why you should follow it.
A gut feeling is actually a physical response to your subconscious mind weighing up all known factors and then making a decision. Your gut is signalling to you the best option. “Malcolm Gladwell”:http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/ in his book “Blink”:http://www.malcolmgladwell.com/blink/index.html discusses how using thin slicing and gut feeling you can make just as good a decision, if not better than consciously seeking all relevant information.
This is why you should follow your gut feeling. It is summing up the best option based on everything you know. Your gut is also taking into account subtleties like body language, feelings or other information you may have consciously pushed aside.
Some examples from my own life: 1) A couple of years ago now my girlfriend came home one day and said “hey why don’t we move to Auckland” (at the total opposite end of New Zealand). Here I was on the brink of my first venture, with a lot at stake. Not a great time to strike camp and start over. But my gut feeling was to say ‘Yes.’ So I did so, on the spot. I shocked her making such a big decision so quickly, but I haven’t regretted this since. Moving to Auckland turned out to be the best move for me as a founder: it’s the biggest city in New Zealand, so I found it has a huge pool of like-minded people. I have met and bounced ideas off of many other entrepreneurs, and I’ve been involved in two startups since moving here. These are opportunities that otherwise would never have eventuated, giving me vital experience I would otherswise never have gained.
Gut Feeling 1, Ben 0.
2) Not too long ago a friend asked me to do some Web Development for him. The project was small, wouldn’t take much time and I’d be doing him a favour. My gut said ‘No don’t do it.’ However I went ahead. Two weeks in I realised why I stopped doing that line of work; having to jump to the clients every request; comprimising my high work standards. I didn’t listen to my gut, and I wound up regretting it.
Gut Feeling 2, Ben 0.
3) Recently I faced the problem (or opportunity) of receiving two job offers at once. I then had to pick and choose. It was simple my gut feeling was ‘take the first job.’ I wasn’t sure why — if I put the jobs side by side they were the same. I went with my gut. It was an intense time but after some time out I realised the question was easy – which is more fun? Thats my usual criteria but due to the pressure i’d missed the boat. The answer was concurrent with my gut choice. Two months later I have not regretted that choice.
Gut Feeling 3, Ben 0.
In the first instance I was on the brink of my first venture and was focusing on trusting my gut instinct. The second example I was letting my concious judgement be clouded by the fact it was a friend. My gut told me immediately ‘No’ and that was the right decision. The third example was a pressure situation where my own clarity wasn’t perfect — so, instead of deliberating, I just went with my gut.
Each and every time I’ve made a “gut decision” it has been the best decision I could have made at that time. Which is what entrepreneurship is about: making the best of what we’ve got. I have made many other important decisions in my entrepreneurial ventures this way — about when to bring in new people, when to expand, and when to sit quiet. I’ve made some mistakes (we founders can over think things sometimes) but I haven’t regretted one decision based on my ‘gut feeling’!
Lesson: Trust your gut. Always. You will be more decisive and make better decisions consistently.
Yes. I agree with you. I don’t know how many times I regretted “not going with my gut” on decisions that have come back to haunt.}
So your advice to fellow entrepreneurs is that their best course of action is just following their gut. Never taking the time to analyze issues, never actually giving decisions some thought. Hey, and you’ve even got three anecdotes to back that up! Well, I had a gut reaction to your wonderful advice, but having given it some thought, I’ve decided to tone it down a bit…}
Elad, that’s a tad unfair. His advice is that the best course of action, when the analytical process doesnt quickly bring you to a clear decision, is to go with your gut. You don’t have to agree, of course, but why don’t you counter this, then, by offering the community a piece of advice of your own? How do you handle those situations where the right choice isn’t always clear?}
I’m sorry Carleen, but the part about the analytical process not resulting in a clear decision is your own interpretation – it is nowhere to be found in the text. The text says: “Trust your gut. Always. You will be more decisive and make better decisions consistently” and that was just a bit too much for me to bear. As for my own advice, unfortunately I have no pearls of wisdom to offer that are anything but the obvious “think before you act”. And in any case, I don’t consider myself wise enough to offer advice to others.}
Elad, Your interpretation may be just a bit too literal. The point of Ben’s piece is to NOT trust you gut ONLY. It is trust your gut ALWAYS. Nowhere in the story does Ben say stop thinking. In fact he says: “follow your gut feeling. It is summing up the best option based on everything you know…” EVERYTHING you know …
Meanwhile, when you do feel you’ve acquired some wisdom of your own, and are brave enough to share it, Found|READERs would love to hear from you again. Best, Carleen}