Brain Brain Go Away.

When it comes to making decisions in life, what do you follow most? Is it your head, your gut, or are you an old romantic and follow your heart? All decisions in life no matter how big or small require us to tap into one or more of these subliminally, but when you pause and take a step back, which one should you rely on. Although we all know we have a brain in our head (well most of us do) a lot do not know that according to science we do in fact have three brains, the Head Brain, The Gut Brain and the Heart Brain. All three communicate with each other and help us make decisions. We think with our head, you feel with your heart and you know with your gut. In order to be successful it is important to know when to listen to which one. In business, it is also good to know what appeals to people who use each to make the big decisions.

The Head

The brain in our head has 100 Billion Neurons. When we use our head brain, we are making decisions based on logic. Our head is the seat of logic and intellect. We weigh up the pros and cons of a situation and determine our next move based on what we stand to gain and what we stand to lose. Emotion does not come into it. Your head is what we use when we want to take an objective focus on something; it is analytical like a small accountant sitting at a desk inside your head seeing if everything adds up. In Business if trying to appeal to someone who tends to make more decisions with their head rather than the gut or the heart, you must appeal to reason and rational. People who make decisions mainly with their head need proof, they want statistics, they want Data and then they want more statistics.

The Heart

The Heart brain, often referred to as our “Little Brain” works very differently to our Head Brain. Rather than using logic or reasoning, decisions with our heart are based on emotions. Picture yourself in a Dog rescue centre; you live in a little apartment, which would be perfect for a Jack Russell or a Yorkshire terrier. However, on arrival a Great Dane called Goliath happens to lick your hand. Despite living on the 4th floor of an apartment building, with a front living room that would make a Phone Box seem Roomy, Goliath is in the back of the car quicker than you could say “10 Large bags of Dry Food Please”. When we use our heart brain to make decisions, they are often irrational; they are full of gusto and passion. Your heart brain has 40,000 neurons, which act as a heart brain, and this allows it to sense, learn, feel and remember. People, who make choices mainly based on what their heart tells them, want to have their emotions and feelings tapped into, they don’t care so much for statistics or what a pie chart tells them they should do. They care more about the story of a company. They react better to visuals and wonderful thought evoking imagery.

The Gut

Your gut also has neurons, 100 Million of them to be exact and these act as your gut brain. Your gut is where your intuition lies. Think of your gut as a crossword puzzle, but all the answers are cryptic clues. Nothing specific and it takes a lot more figuring out then feelings in your Heart or in your head. It’s that feeling of knowing something but you have no idea how you know. An inner voice so deep down you cannot even comprehend exactly why you feel a certain way about a situation. Our gut brain instinct is usually the one that keeps us up at night when we do not follow it, decisions made with the gut are ones, which are not something we regret easily or are fleeting decisions made with the heart. In business people who use their gut are the hardest to convince, they do not realty care for statistics like the head brain, nor about your companies story like the heart does, they base it on intuition. They require strong testimonials and case studies. . If they trust you, you are gold, if they do not they probably never will.

 If you head, your heart and your gut walked into a bookmakers your head would read the form inside out, working out all the possibilities of inform horses and Jockeys. Your heart would rip up the formbook and pick the horse that has the same name as the giant dog back in your tiny apartment. Your Gut would want a tip from a really good source, he may even want you to get him on the phone to confirm how well he really knows the jockey and if not satisfied he is turning around and walking out.

So which is the one you should listen to most? The truth is you should never ignore any of them. Each has their place in our decision-making and when they are aligned and incorporated into the choices we make we tend to make the wisest choices. If you ignore your heart, you are doing yourself a disservice, as sometimes the right choice is not always the rational choice. Likewise, by just choosing to listen to your heart on all decisions and taking logic out of the equation leaves you open to make bad choices, as choices with the heart are more likely to be spur of the moment decisions. Although the gut is vague and we cannot really ever know why we get a certain feeling that something is not quite right, this is the one you regret most when you ignore it. How many times have you heard the phrase “should of listened to my gut instinct”, and it’s for good reason that people do. If you can align your Head Brain, your Heart Brain and your Gut brain, you will find that the choices you make are more often than not based on the best interest to yourself and others.