Don't Trust Your Gut

Have you ever reminded yourself to "trust your gut?" I bet you have. Where does this instinct come from? Why does it resonate? And what makes it dangerous?

The instinct comes from life experience. We draw conclusions and develop habitual responses from what happens to us.

Just like babies learn to coo or cry to get attention, we develop instincts and behaviors to serve our needs.

We turn to them in unfamiliar situations and trust they will work as they have in the past.

Often we are not even conscious of their formulation. Malcolm Gladwell suggests we form judgments about people within about 30 seconds of meeting them.

We don't necessarily act on those judgments, and we might choose to alter them later. But they often appear without our intention or even awareness.

What’s the Problem?

So what's the problem? Shouldn't we trust what has worked for us in the past? Sometimes we can.

But what about the times we are wrong? What about the times intuition hurts rather than helps us?

Here's a simple example: We feel the weather might unfold in a certain way. It's going to rain or get warm. And then it doesn't.

A more serious example. You think you've found your soulmate. You know they will be a great life partner. But it doesn't work.

Your gut feeling was wrong. We think we checked all the boxes or followed the rules and still miss the mark. And it's not always obvious why…