Trustworthy Instincts are where the gut and the head collide. Tested over time and refined through experience, they allow us to make sound, timely decisions in stressful situations - which is essentially a superpower in today’s world.

Part of what makes humans so special is that we have both instincts and intellect. Like other animals, we are born with a set of innate abilities. There are things that we just know how to do (or know not to do) without ever being taught. Our instincts are powerful and play a critical role in how we move through the world. They allow us to ‘feel’ when something is right, or a bit off, or dangerous - but they only get us so far. In fact, some of our natural instincts, the ones that kept our ancient ancestors alive, can be counterproductive in modern times. Our environment has changed a ton over the past few thousand years, and our biology just can’t seem to keep up. Fortunately, we also have the ability to reason. We can document, share knowledge, and analyze the world around us. Humans are learning, meaning-making creations and we love to figure things out. We’ve got a lot going for us.

The challenge, of course, is how to properly blend all of this awesome ability. How do we operate in this modern world without missing the facts or muting our instincts? We’ve got more stimulus, more data, and more distractions than ever in human history - and we still need to make sound decisions in life, love, and business. Whether looking for the right employee or business partner, making a strategy decision, or choosing a life partner, the variables are complex and the stakes are typically high. So what do we do? How can we hone our instincts to make them truly trustworthy?

“Guys...how do I not get fooled again in business?”

The question was so honest and refreshing that we had to take it in for a moment before we continued with our whiteboard jam session. We’ve all been fooled before. We’ve been fooled by others, and worse by ourselves. It caused us to linger a bit longer on the topic and really consider how can we keep ourselves from being fooled in the future?

Part of the problem is that as complex creations, we tend to look at important decisions through two different, and often opposing lenses. It’s confusing because on one hand, we are increasingly encouraged to be data driven - to avoid our unconscious biases and make decisions more analytically. But on the other hand, we have a growing cadre of folks telling us to “go with your gut and follow your heart!” That if we just meditate on it, we’ll know what to do.

Either held separately is bad advice.

As whole people we have to integrate our faculties to be truly effective. We have to understand the quantifiable nature of decision making in context with our feelings, culture, and values. We can’t (and won’t) offer you a protocol or flow chart on how to make better decisions. And we certainly can’t teach you to have perfect ‘Spidey Senses’. What we can do is offer you a process to start developing trustworthy instincts - a framework to help you start merging the head and gut, all in an effort to help you make better decisions.

As with everything we discuss at Applied Leadership Partners, this is easier said than done. But we think if you start here, you’ll be well on your way.

1. Quantify: What are your goals, parameters, or hopes for the given situation? Who or what are you looking for and why? What are your expectations? Failing to quantify who or what you are looking for leaves the process up to chance. And chance is not a strategy. If you know where you are headed, with an idea of what you are looking for, you can analyze emerging details during the process.

2. Acknowledge: What do you do when your gut is telling you something is just a bit off? Take the time to acknowledge the feeling and linger before reacting. Your “gut” is a combination of physiological, experiential, values based, biological, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual factors. Don’t ignore it! Take notice when your gut is talking to you, there is a reason.

3. Process: Do you understand what your gut is trying to tell you? Have you been here before? Process what you are feeling the way you best process (journal, exercise, meditate, pray, breathe, doodle...whatever it takes). Give yourself what you need in order to emerge with a better understanding of what you are feeling. Suspend judgement by taking words like, good or bad, out of the exercise. Some of your greatest breakthroughs may occur during these moments, so be willing to grow. A good way you can come to a point of understanding is if you can write it down in a few sentences, or speak it out loud in two minutes or less.

4. Compare: Does this gut feeling align, or conflict with your quantifiables? Reacting is acting out of emotion. Responding is making the best decision possible with all available factors and feelings considered at the time. Once you can articulate your feelings, examine them against your stated goals and desired outcome.

5. Decide: Make your call and move on, fast if possible, and reflect on the outcomes. If your gut got it right, buy it a taco and enjoy. If it led you astray, take a few extra steps...

Easy decisions are nice when they are easy. But most decisions include people, and people are not math problems. If you find yourself badly wanting something (or someone) that just does not align with your quantifiables (or not wanting something that does), take the time to truly interrogate why.

6. Reflect: From where did your expectations and needs originate? Are you achieving the results you hope for while operating under these parameters? In moments like these, we typically discover the difference between our stated and our revealed preferences. There is nothing wrong with identifying a problem, or recognizing that your needs have either changed along the way, or that you didn’t really want what you thought in the first place.

7. Refine: Are you willing to grow? Sometimes we have to let go of things that are holding us back from achieving what we truly hope for. If your revealed preference is different from your stated preference, name it and change it. Authenticity means leading and living in your own skin.

You will win some, and you will lose some, but you will learn from them all.

We’ll never be able to completely feel, or reason, our way through life’s most important decisions. We need to leverage our head AND our gut. Doing that takes awareness, practice, and diligence. But over time, you’ll get better and more confident, and you’ll develop trustworthy instincts.

Thumbnail Photo: @sergiferrete via Unsplash