Go the guts - follow your instincts

06Feb 2013

Published in Business Tips

06Feb 2013

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Do you feel and follow your instincts?

It’s cold, dark and raining. You’re tired, hungry and far from home.

A car pulls up: bright, inviting. The clean-cut driver smiles.

He offers a lift – just into town. Nora Jones croons.

It looks safe, but something in you goes click.

‘No, thank you.’

Having endured the GFC, we may be tempted to take the first ride that comes our way.

But is it in our best interests to do so?

At first blush, gut feelings and cool business decisions seem diametrically opposed.

Until we recall that business revolves around humans – a complex and volatile species.

In the cut-throat world of commerce, could our sixth sense be our most valuable?

I’ve talked about sacking clients, letting them die on the vine and saying ‘no’ when we’d rather say ‘yes’.

Now I’d like to discuss the strong feeling I get when I’m certain something just isn’t going to work out.

I want to know if you feel it too.

I felt it a while ago, after three rounds of passive-aggressive email pong with a business contact.

The feeling started in my head, breaking my concentration for work. So I rode to the pool.

After a kilometre, I was in ‘the zone’. Suddenly I thought about the emails again. My stroke broke, my speed bled and my body sank in the water.

By thinking of other stuff, I got going again, but the same thing happened twice more.

That night I couldn’t sleep for ages.

When I did, I dreamt about someone who’d proved to be very ‘bad news’ in the past.

On waking at 4 am, heart pounding and guts knotted, I knew I couldn’t deal with this person any more.

Severing contact was un-fun. From the moment I did, however, I started to feel better in every way.

It took another full day to regain my mojo, but the relief was acute.

I yearn for your input.

However wrenching :)

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