Instinct, not just a cliche

Evil people, sneaky people , envious people can teach you something new every day. No, not how to be like them – although this answer would be perfectly logical.

How to avoid them, how to listen to your instinct which triggers the anti-aerial alarm in their proximity, how to wipe off the bullshit in which they premeditatedly got you involved in and how to move forward. It doesn’t sound glorious at all, does it? Unfortunately, life isn’t glorious; it’s just life, regardless of money, power, position and appearances.

So what’s the topic of this post? Coaching insight: developing and following your instinct.

In case you never have experienced irrational “alarms”, “feelings”, anticipations and other abilities that you don’t write in your CV, it means you’re either too young (no offence) or too rational – both of which are quite rare situations. Just try relying a few times on your hunches – in matters that are not of very high concern, for starters.

Try making a statistic of the feeling (interesting paradox, right?) and see how well you can read into situations, people and decisions. Be honest with yourself. People tend to overestimate their abilities.

If you reach the conclusion that you can’t really trust your instinct, it’s not a tragedy, that’s how most of us are.

But if you have been checking your instinct over time and it has proven its worth so far, listen to it. Put aside logical deductions, civilized assumptions, and thoughts like “I don’t have any rational argument”, “no such thing can happen”, “maybe I’m exaggerating anyway”, “I should act mature, I can’t justify decisions based on…nothing substantial.”

As long as it’s good and confirmed, listen to it, your instinct. Every time. Every time. Every time.

You will regret if you don’t do it. Every time. Every time. Every time.

By Raluca Filip