How your Body Intelligence can Improve your Decision Making
The journey to decision making
Ask any leader to think of a time they have had to make a decision regarding their company, and I’m sure they could come up with many - some easy, some incredibly difficult. Being in a position of leadership can be hard when you approach every situation knowing that every decision makes an impact, however big or small. Recently, as with any business, I was faced with a decision where my co-founder and I were approaching it from different sides.
Is there a right way to make a decision?
How can one come to a healthy decision together when there are different views?
Everyone comes to their own decisions in different ways, but I’ve found that a few steps help me on my journey to making clear, considered decisions. The first step involves being present, being vulnerable, being clear and open to others’ opinions. The second involves having an awareness of, and bringing together, the three centres of reasoning.
The different centres of intelligence in making decisions
There are three areas we look to when we want to make a decision:
- The head - Our analytical centre is guided by logic and helps to guide us through issues with intelligence and perspective.
- The heart - Our emotional centre is guided by what feels right, our empathy for others and how we feel.
- The gut - Our instinctive centre is guided by what our bodies are telling us about the situation we are in. In the same way that we listen to our bodies telling us when we’re hungry or tired, the body can provide the answers when making decisions.
The gut can be an often-overlooked decision-making centre in pursuit of the logical answer with the head, or impulsive decisions being made by purely by the heart - being able to listen to your instincts is an important quality in everyone, including businesses and leaders.
People are often more aligned to particular centres than others - some make decisions purely on gut feeling or allow themselves to be guided by their head or their heart alone, but all three are essential. Listening to each in turn and making a decision that way forms a powerful framework in decision making: the best decisions are made when these three parts of us are aligned.
Using your head, heart and gut to make the right decisions for your business
When any new business venture is making a big decision, I believe they need to focus on these three areas. The journey that we are on at YuLife aligns and integrates to all three parts.
YuLife’s head
When we look at insurance, we see a traditional industry that hasn’t evolved much over the past 200 years. We see an industry that has focused on claims compensation rather than risk prevention. Our philosophy is centred around inspiring a new model of insurance - a win-win model that brings value to not only to the individuals covered but to the business and more widely the world.
YuLife’s heart
At the heart of YuLife is the ethos of “love being yu” where we are dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of millions of people. We know we’re on the right track when we hear the stories of our members and the difference YuLife has made to their lives. We see our community walking more, using mindfulness tools and embracing wellbeing as a part of their workplace culture.
YuLife’s gut instincts
The financial services sector was in real need of disruption - to make it more fun, to bring joy, to help many people to live their best lives. Our gut instinct guided us to utilise technology as a force for good in a time when there’s never been more opportunity.
By bringing together the head, the heart and the gut, both individuals and businesses can make truly great decisions and create something magical. Having these in alignment can bring about success, which makes me excited to see what comes from the next generation of startups.