How to Trust Your Gut to Make the Right Business Decision

For centuries, scientists have studied how gut/instinct and intellect work in the decision-making process. A new study has shown that by forcing people between two options based solely on the gut, they made the right decision 90% of the time.

At the Tel Aviv University School, Professor Marius Usher with his team of researchers noted that intuition was a surprisingly powerful and accurate tool. According to the expert, the study showed that even at the level of intuition, the brain assesses each option, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses to have a general picture.

To understand the decision-making process, Usher designed an experiment to put participants in a controlled decision-making process. On a screen, participants were shown sequences of numbers in rapid succession. All the numbers that appeared on the left and right sides were considered one group, and each group represented stock market results. 

Participants were asked to choose which of the two groups of numbers averaged more. Because the numbers changed so fast, two to four pairs per second, people couldn’t memorize all the numbers or do mathematical calculations. To determine the group that averaged the highest, people had to rely on their arithmetic instinct.

In the test results, it was found that precision increased as more data was presented. When they were shown six pairs of numbers, the participants chose correctly 65% of the time, while when they were shown 24 pairs, their range of precision rose to 90%.

“Intuitively the human brain can take many pieces of information and decide an average range,” said Professor Usher. “You can trust your gut to make the right decisions.”

How to Trust Your Gut?

As an entrepreneur, your day-to-day is full of challenges and also the need to be generating new ideas all the time. However, not all the ideas that come up are viable or successful. But how do you recognize which way to go? How to make up one’s mind about what decisions to make? How to be sure that the risk will be worth it?

Your main tool in this matter is nothing less than your gut. It is that “something” that many times we cannot explain, a compass or internal guide that alerts and guides you.

“Trust your gut” is popular advice that is scientifically based.

Your brain has two types of memory: one is explicit and another is implicit. The latter is believed to be the driving force behind hunches.

Explicit memory is the knowledge that you have to put into your head with a focused and determined effort. Implicit memory is all the things that get stuck in your head without a conscious or intentional effort on your part.

When both memories work together, you can develop skills that evolve to a second degree.

Today’s techniques for trusting the gut are primarily based on learning from experience. Many times the feelings that are generated tell you something that you should pay attention to or at least take into account before making a decision.

How to develop your gut?

Now that you know that the famous gut is very useful for making business decisions, the obligatory question is: how do I develop this sixth sense?

Be curious all the time: Ask as many questions as possible without fear of sounding silly. Little by little, with time and experience, you will learn to ask the right questions.

Learn to ask the right research questions: Before collecting any information, be sure to ask the right kind of questions: What will I use this data for? What do I need to find? How will this information impact my business? You can have a ton of information, but if you don’t ask the right business question, those found data can tell you anything.

Generate vision: Explore the information you’ve collected and created insight from your analysis. For example, how long do your prospects spend on your site before buying? How many times do they go back and forth before deciding to make a purchase? What content do they consume the most? What does all this collected information tell you and how can you use it to benefit your business by taking the right decision?

The more you explore the information at your fingertips, the better decisions you can make. The current trend is to use systems that allow you to view the information in a more systematic, visual, and trend manner.

Tips to Learn to Trust Your Gut For Right Business Decisions

The following are some tips to help you trust your gut and make the right business decisions: 

If you are passionate about it, don’t give up: When you can’t get an idea out of your head, your instinct is telling you it’s because it’s worth it. When you act on the ideas that matter to you, you are more likely to get it right and work hard enough to be successful. 

Commit: All good instincts must be supported by hard work, dedication, and commitment. 

Immerse yourself in the world of your idea: We are not born with a gut for business, but it is a skill that we learn over time. When a topic attracts you, your mind easily absorbs all the knowledge related to it. Thus, your gut becomes easy to make informed decisions. 

Ignore the rules: Entrepreneurs who trust their gut will set new rules; those who anticipate and solve the problems of the future. If you fail, use the experience as an opportunity to hone your gut by identifying which mistakes you made and which ones killed your idea. 

Allow your idea to change: When you act on your instincts, you must be flexible with the implementation. The base remains, but the idea is transformed and evolves. 

Now you know: experience will tell you how far you should trust your gut and how far to pay attention to facts and statistics; meanwhile, don’t be afraid to be wrong.