Instincts or Data?

Recently, my team at work all watched a Ted Talk about trusting our instincts in the time of data.

As an analyst, I was struck by the concept, since my world is often the juxtaposition of “trust your instincts” and “where’s the proof?”. And I’m sure I’m not alone. I mean, honestly, when did we ever think the phrase “data points” would be part of the common language?

Somewhere along the road to adulthood, I feel like we somehow stop trusting our gut. Think about it. How often do we talk ourselves out of ideas, ask multiple people for their opinions, or let other louder opinions drown out what we know deep inside?

We phrase things as questions instead of statements. We say things like “just want to run this past you” or “will you tell me if this makes sense?”. We do it when we’re hiring someone, pitching a new idea, fixing a problem or .. even figuring out what to make for dinner.

Now - don’t get this confused with collaboration. That’s an entirely different concept than needing constant reassurance that we’re doing the right thing, according to someone else. Or even worse, letting someone else talk us out of what we know in our “gut” to be true.

Here’s a great example - late last year, as I was doing some planning for my team this year, I had the spark of an idea of what I thought was a unique, fun way to start meetings. I started researching it - the cost (one time cost of $15 per person), the ideas around it (limitless), what it might look like over the course of a year (still being plotted out). Sounds like a slam dunk, right? I sat on the idea for weeks before actually making it happen. Why?

Because I didn’t know of anyone else doing anything like this; I was worried what people outside of my team would think.

Finally, I worked up my courage and made it happen. We’re two months in and it seems to be going really well. To the point where I’ve thought “What was I worried about?”; my instincts knew what they were doing.

Back to the part about being an analyst. It’s who I am. I like to see proof of things. I like to let data tell me a story. But here’s the thing about instincts - the best analysts have to pick a starting point, a direction to start chasing; somewhere along the line they’re making a hypothesis about what they think to be true or untrue. Most of the time, the data doesn’t tell us this - we choose it from somewhere inside.

Years ago, I stumbled across the idea of an instinct log. Similar to a decision log, the instinct log lets you track instincts that have, as well as the outcome. Were you at the store with coffee creamer in your hand, then put it back, only to get home and realize you were right, you only have enough of the good stuff for one cup of coffee in the morning?

While it sounds trivial, this sort of exercise usually only takes a day or two before you start to build a little bit more confidence in your intuition, and as that confidence grows, that little voice gets louder and maybe a little more innovative.

Truthfully, learning to trust your instincts is one of my favorite things about a regular tarot and oracle card practice. So many believe the cards are giving direction, but what the cards are truly doing is forcing you to listen to your own inner voice. The card gives a message, yet its up to us to apply that message to our own life, experience, and vision. So often, we know the answer, we’ve just been conditioned not to trust ourselves, even though we know ourselves best.

Originally published in 2019, updated in 2024.