My Top 100 Start-Up Mistakes: #5 - Ignoring Intuition
Dismissing Gut Feelings with Logic
I just sent out the second worst performing marketing email since I accidentally sent one only to a list of unsubscribers. All because I dismissed my gut feeling for logic.
This is one lesson I wish I would just get once and for all.
Gut feeling has nothing to do with woo woo. And what our gut is pointing to only becomes obvious in retrospect. That’s because most of the processing around our perceptions happens in the unconscious brain, so our conscious mind often misses the point until after the fact. Unless we listen to our gut.
In the case of this email campaign, I had advice from some of the best in the business. So, had every reason to think it was the right decision.
That’s a tough one.
It’s becomes a conflict between logic and intuition. On one hand it’s prudent to apply logic and reason in business for obvious reasons. On the other hand, every time I step over not feeling right about what I am doing, it doesn’t turn out well. This is actually the most important lesson for anyone. Your gut is often (always?) right on target.
The brain takes in every piece of data and every interaction we have ever had. It only stands to reason then that our gut feel becomes more accurate the more we experience (and fail). But, how do we explain to our colleagues, associates, clients or suppliers that we’re holding back on something because of a gut feeling or intuition? That’s the tricky one.
And how do you distinguish between an intuition and just plain fear given they both produce a similar gut reaction?
Rosalie Puiman in her Huffington Post article “Your Gut Feeling: Fear or Intuition” suggests that intuition can be identified as purely about the here and now – the given situation. Whereas fear is highly emotionally charged, conjures up feelings from the past and associated psychological wounds.
I’m going with that.
Next time I have a gut feeling, I’ll use the above litmus test to determine whether it’s intuitive, or fear-based. If it’s intuitive, I’m trusting my gut and going where it takes me. At the very least, it will push me to dig deeper and think through alternative before taking action.