On reading the papers this morning, I noticed loads of stories where people had seemingly demonstrated a massive lack of common sense – from drug taking peers of the realm and teenagers to pilots entertaining models on the flight deck. But when we look around we see evidence of this lack of common sense everywhere.
In the business community we see intelligent, experienced business people making decisions with disastrous consequences. As an outsider, the decisions seem to make no sense at all. I know I have made decisions and taken actions and later asked myself “What was I thinking?”
Are these erroneous decisions on the up? It would certainly seem that way, even taking into account the increasing sensationalist content of stories in newspapers. But why?
I think the clue can be found in something Einstein pointed to many years ago. He called the intuitive or metaphoric mind a sacred gift and also described the rational mind as a faithful servant. In this day and age of ROI, investor pressure and backside covering, it is often to the rational mind we turn. We analyse, dissect, reconstruct and re-analyse to make and justify our decisions. In doing so we often do not see the wood from the trees and we drown out the quiet voice of intuition. It’s not surprising that, after taking a wrong turn, people will often say “Deep down I knew I shouldn’t have (taken the job/bought the house/got married/agreed the contract terms), but I went ahead anyway!” They ignored their gut feel.
So, what to do?
Sometimes, simply being aware of the trap of following the purely rational mind is enough.
Ask yourself how the decision FEELS. Do you feel relieved? Do you feel a pleasant sense of anticipation? Excitement? Or are your feelings neutral or negative?
Give yourself some time to sleep on the decision, to reflect. NOT do more analysis, but just to let the decision ‘be’ for a while, before acting on it.
Give yourself permission to change your mind, if that feels right
Intuition is an amazing gift, let’s use it more and let it guide our rational mind - the faithful servant.
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