DON'T BE SO QUICK TO FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS - You could get tangled up in your own boot straps!

I regularly read about or hear people say "follow your gut!- stick with your intuition". I know that this is a difficult thing to do - for us average people I mean. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in intuition - I have had too many amazing experiences not to. But funnily enough it is only in retrospect that I can comfortably say my instincts were correct. At the time I was usually confused and, more often than not, took no action at all! I just sat around pondering whether my gut was really to be trusted.  

I was reading an article recently that dealt with this very topic. I was surprised to find that people who rely on their instincts get it wrong 99% of the time.  This got me thinking. 

I asked myself when was the last time that I had relied on my instincts? And once again I was faced with the specter of myself moving around as though I had one foot nailed to the floor, going around and around not quite knowing what to do. Some would call this procrastination - I call it being unable to reliably make a decision. The result? A lot of wasted energy and time! 

Reading this remarkable statistic was, in a way, a relief. It was kinda like finding out that this circular confusion that I was negatively accusing myself of, was in fact as normal a human experience as one could have! I mean, welcome to the human race! Yes, we all know about that 'inner wisdom' that should be there to guide us through life. But actually it just does not happen that way, certainly from a business perspective. Many bankrupt businesses and broken dreams hold testament to people who blindly followed their instincts.  

How valuable would it be to have some objective person who you could bounce your 'instincts' off before you plunged into the mystical domain of intuition? Enter the coach.  The coaching experience is actually all about finding the way to move forward through the counter-instinctive phase to get to the appropriate course of action. 

Here is a simple example of instinctive action with disastrous results. 

Have you ever tried to snow ski? Well your instinctive reactions will result in a lot of unnecessary pain. When you set off on your first venture down the icy slopes, your instincts tell you that you will be safer leaning back towards the mountain to stay balanced. In reality this action will cause you to crash! What is required is the complete opposite - you need to lean forward and tuck the ski-poles in under your arms. You will then obtain the requisite balance needed to move forward comfortably. Totally counter-instinctive! 

The question is can you learn to do this on your own? Yes. But with a lot of pain and a lot more time! If, however, you got yourself a coach you could probably achieve the same result within 10% of the time (and anguish). The coach's job is to help you stop trusting your pre-existing instincts and learn something new. As you lean forward instead of instinctively falling backwards, you start having a completely different and rewarding experience. In the beginning it feels unnatural and clumsy - new muscles are used and stiffness sets in. But with repeated practice and guidance the new behaviour eventually becomes instinctive. The journey then becomes exhilarating and enjoyable and, above all, successful. Getting yourself a good quality coach will assist you in creating exceptional results! 

Break out of that instinctive mode - get coached. 

(Originally Published on May 4, 2016 )