Never ignore a gut feeling: but never believe that it's enough on its own

Do you ever consciously try to sense your gut feeling by asking yourself, ‘What do I feel about this person, situation or decision?’ Trusting your gut can help you in the workplace and beyond. The danger is when you let external noise drown out what it’s telling you, letting other people’s views and opinions take priority over your own.

You might find the idea of listening to your gut feelings odd or even ridiculous. Some people I coach, normally left-brain individuals who use logic and facts all day like engineers or accountants, are not used to following their intuition and feelings. Instead of asking themselves ‘What do I feel?’, they are more comfortable asking ‘What do the facts tell me?’

When you have a “gut instinct” about someone, it is after interacting with them. When you know whether or not a job is right for you, it is only after having done it for a while. The problem is that we are trying to use our instincts as fortune-telling mechanisms, our brain’s creative way of trying to manipulate our body to help us avoid pain and increase pleasure in the future. But that’s not what happens. We end up stuck because we are literally trusting every single thing that we feel instead of discerning what’s an actual reaction and what’s a projection.

Like I said, sometimes a gut feeling is the most important thing; sometimes you have to trust fate.

You’ll know it’s your gut when you have a sense of almost knowing you’ve arrived at the answer without a reasoning process.

Gut reactions are usually very wrong or very right.

They tend to be wrong when they are based purely on emotion and in domains where you lack experience. They tend to be right when they are rooted in deep understanding and well-developed taste.

Trust your gut when you have the experience to back it up.

Know what you want and follow your gut. It's hard to truly know what you want and who you are. It's even harder to attune yourself to that inner voice that tells you what your heart is saying. You know it when something feels off, when you bristle, when you hear one big, fat screaming "NO!" in your head. Whatever the personal decision - in conversation, friendship, dating, career - pay attention to what your gut says, and not necessarily what you're told and what you think you should think (because then you'll overthink it). I always stick with my gut decision.

You should inform your gut and then trust it.

Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that's enough.

When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it - don't back down and don't give up - then you're going to mystify a lot of folks.

Use your intuition to guide you. If something feels wrong, it usually is!

And you, you’re afraid to let go of your relationship and be lived by the Great One for real. If you want my gut feeling, it’s time for you and the Peepster to trust deeper than the form of your relationship. Let go of each other

Ask the most successful entrepreneurs and leaders what their secret is and invariably they all say the same thing: "I trust my gut.