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Of Gut Feelings And Instincts

Posted by Russ Johnson in Just Stuff on April 8, 2008 | 8 responses

My wife and I were discussing something yesterday after I asked for her input. After a few minutes of discussion she made a comment that really made me stop and think. She told me that I make more decisions just based off of my gut feeling than anyone she has ever known.

Now my wife and I have been together for about 10 years and we have known each other for over 20, so I think she has a pretty good "read" on me by now. I really stopped to think about this, seriously, pondered over it for well over an hour last night trying to think of all the decisions lately that I have made purely on my instinct and not based on some sort of fact or research.

My conclusion, she was right. I do make a ton of decisions based purely on how I feel about them. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, most of the decisions that I came up with worked out well, a few didn't. It almost makes me want to start taking notes on these decisions so in the future I can compile some stats to see if I'm doing the right thing. Although, that might be a little obsessive. Some of these decisions are small, trivial matters. Others have more impact on me and my family. Or even my job and the work that I produce. I wonder how many of you have consciously thought about the decisions you make in this manner. Right or wrong I guess it's just part of our nature.

What really bothered me was the decisions that I made where I chose against my initial instinct and they ended up being wrong choices. How many times have you said, "I should have just went with my gut!"? It's funny how your first instinct is usually the correct one. I guess maybe I should just embrace that and run with it. After-all, thats what my gut is telling me to do.

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8 Comments »

  1. Bryan Thompson Bryan Thompson Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 12:33 PM It shouldn't bother you... Some call it faith, some call it a gut instinct, but there's something that make you just "know" whether a decision is the right or wrong one. There's a really good book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell that basically talks about what happens in that split second where your gut feeling tells you what to do. Very interesting stuff.
  2. Russ Johnson Russ Johnson Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 12:39 PM Yeah it doesnt really bother me. It did at first because I have never really thought about it. I just thought it was more interesting than anything. BTW, here is a link to the book you recommended. Im picking up a copy today, sounds like a very interesting read.

    http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207672663&sr=8-1
  3. Steven Bristol Steven Bristol Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 12:40 PM I spent a lot of time trying to decide if I should leave a comment or not. My gut said no, but I decided to anyways. I guess I agree with you. This is a very useless and self serving comment. I shouldn't have written it.
  4. Joe Zack Joe Zack Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 1:19 PM I tend to make a lot of gut decisions as well, I very rarely regret them and I never feel bad about it.

    When making a decision you don't usually have enough physical data to make a completely logical decision. So you either make an educated guess based on what you do have, or you take that data into consideration and try to make as wise a decision as possible.

    I'll take the latter!
  5. J.Coleman J.Coleman Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 2:01 PM What you need is a mat with some conclusions on it....that you can jump to.
  6. Russ Johnson Russ Johnson Says:
    April 8, 2008 at 2:23 PM @J.Coleman - nice reference!!
  7. Jeannine Jeannine Says:
    April 18, 2008 at 6:34 AM Fascinating stuff. I would be interested to know if gender has anything at all to do with following your gut instinct?
    I have "issues" with my gut instincts in that for many years I have gone against them, and now find myself at a point where I find it very difficult to differentiate between that and what it is I think I want or need to do. So the conundrum for me is what do I trust?
    I'm female by the way.
  8. Scott Scott Says:
    May 3, 2008 at 4:37 PM LOL, Blink is a funny book. "My instincts are telling me that my instincts are correct, but only after I did a bunch of research on my instincts", is pretty much what he is saying. This is a logical falicy. Take it in with a grain of salt.

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