After running a successful business for 13 years, I have come to understand and appreciate the power of trusting my business instincts.
Trust your instincts!
Whenever I have gone against my natural business instincts, it’s almost always been the wrong thing to do! Even if I sometimes think on a conscious level that my ‘hunch’ must be wrong – it has an uncanny knack of being right. Interestingly, when you read the biographies of successful businesspeople and leaders, you will often find that they too have learnt to follow their instincts.
I have done some studies into why our instincts / gut feelings can be such useful indicators and it seems opinions are split. Some people believe it’s a throwback to skills we developed when living in caves. Others believe it’s our brain tapping into something more spiritual. Whatever you believe, there’s no doubt in my mind that your instinct can be a powerful business development tool; so long as you listen to it.
I experienced the power of my own instincts earlier today. I was due to start working on a project with someone next week, yet all along I instinctively knew that this person was just a time-waster. They said all the right things and tried their hardest to appear super-motivated, yet I knew instinctively that they were never going to proceed. Thus it came as no surprise, when they called me this morning to confirm that my instincts were right.
Marketing and science
Marketing is a very scientific process, based around testing and measuring. We know that if we do the correct things in the correct way, we can get a very predictable response. However, I believe there is also real value in listening to your gut feelings, hunches or instincts too!
Over to you!
Do you trust your instincts in business or do you think it’s a waste of time? Let us know, with a comment below.