How much do you depend on your ‘gut instinct’ when you move forward with an idea, or make a decision?
It’s what we’re told to do – trust your gut. Don’t trust the mind chatter, instead you need to learnt to listen to your body and it will tell you what is right for you.
BUT…. that gut instinct is formed from a lifetime of feelings, thoughts and experiences. And not just our thoughts, all the things we’ve read, watched and heard from other people…
I love this quote by William Deresiewicz:
“My first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else’s; it’s always what I’ve already heard about the subject, the conventional wisdom. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play that I arrive at an original idea. By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise.”
When we give our mind some time, it helps us to broaden our viewpoint and allows us to make new connections and uncover the nuances. It’s even better if you can think and move – this helps to integrate your gut feelings with analytical thinking. You’ll be able to explore the problem more effectively and make better, faster, and more accurate decisions.
So, how long do you spend on giving your decisions some thinking space?
It depends…! If you’re deciding between two dinner options, then probably not very long. If you’re deciding whether to quit your job then you’ll want to spend a bit longer on that one.
It also really depends on how you currently make decisions.
If you are a person who likes to make snap decisions based on gut instinct, then you could try giving yourself 15 minutes dedicated thinking time.
If you have a tendency to over-analyse for weeks and not make a decision, then give yourself a deadline. Allow yourself to go through the process of analysing the options (or whatever your process is) but put a time limit on it.
Try a different place or situation to make decisions in – can you sit in a different room, or a cafe, or go for a walk? It’s surprising what changing something in our environment can do to help our thinking.
If you’d like some help to work through your thinking patterns, or support to make a deicsion, get in touch and we can arrange a free introductory call.
