{"id":133072,"date":"2024-10-11T11:22:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T15:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=133072"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:32:22","slug":"follow-your-gut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/follow-your-gut\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology Behind Following Your Gut Instinct"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What&#8217;s the psychology behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/should-you-trust-your-intuition-not-always\/\">following your gut<\/a>? How is intuition like a muscle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve all been told to &#8220;trust your gut feeling&#8221; at some point in our lives. Psychologist Richard Wiseman explains why this is important and why you should never ignore warning signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn more about following your gut, from the book <em>The Luck Factor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-trusting-your-feelings\"><strong>Trusting Your Feelings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>People who think of themselves as lucky tend to trust their intuition more than those who don\u2019t. As a result, they enhance their luck by making, on average, better decisions\u2014both in their personal and professional lives\u2014and are more likely to engage in activities that improve their intuitive skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wiseman says there\u2019s nothing magical about intuition and gut feelings. Rather, <strong>hunches and instincts are often the result of your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/hub\/science\/human-pattern-recognition\/\">brain\u2019s unconscious pattern recognition skills<\/a>.<\/strong> A great deal of psychological research has shown that our unconscious minds influence our choices, and our brains developed to work that way for a reason. Intuitive hunches are one way that our brains streamline the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> process, and Wiseman\u2019s research found that unlucky people often ignore the warning signals their intuition sends them, whereas people who seem to have luck on their side are more willing to follow their instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Intuition is a powerful tool, but the drawback is that it isn\u2019t always right. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/blink\"><em>Blink<\/em><\/a>, Malcolm Gladwell explains that intuition works when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/blink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">your unconscious mind finds patterns based on small snapshots of experience<\/a> while ignoring superficial details. However, Gladwell says that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/blink\/part-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intuition backfires when your unconscious gets <em>distracted <\/em>by superficial details<\/a>, such as deciding that someone is trustworthy because they\u2019re wearing a nice suit. In this way, intuition lets us fall prey to biases we don\u2019t even know we have. Wiseman\u2019s findings reflect that intuition works more often than not, hence the evolutionary advantage it gives our species, but it isn\u2019t 100%\u2014you still have to balance intuition with logic.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wiseman cites numerous case studies demonstrating that <strong>people who follow their hunches fare better in personal relationships, career choices, and financial decisions.<\/strong> For instance, if you meet someone on a blind date, you may immediately feel an energetic connection\u2014or you might feel that something\u2019s \u201coff\u201d about the person. The same scenario may come up during a job interview\u2014you might get a positive feeling about the other person, or something in the back of your mind might tell you that they\u2019re not someone you want to work with. When following these hunches leads to a good decision, you might attribute your outcomes to luck when in fact your unconscious was just doing its job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Though Wiseman focuses on intuition\u2019s \u201cpositive\u201d hunches, it may be that your intuition\u2019s <em>warnings <\/em>are more accurate. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-gift-of-fear\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Gift of Fear<\/em><\/a>, Gavin de Becker argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-gift-of-fear#the-power-of-your-intuition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">human intuition developed specifically to protect us from harm<\/a>. He differentiates between fear\u2014your instinctive response to threats\u2014and general anxiety, which has its roots in the rational mind and isn\u2019t linked to immediate danger. Whereas Wiseman focuses on listening to your intuition, de Becker suggests that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-gift-of-fear#the-power-of-your-intuition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">you can deliberately trigger it<\/a>\u2014for instance, by talking about sensitive subjects and seeing how other people respond. Their reactions give your intuition something to analyze\u2014such as whether you can trust a financial adviser or someone you met on a date\u2014protecting you from the harm, or bad luck, that a stranger may bring.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-intuition-is-a-muscle\">Intuition Is a Muscle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Unconscious intuition\u2014like any other skill\u2014requires exercise and practice to grow stronger. In his research, Wiseman discovered that in addition to using their intuition more frequently, <strong>lucky people actively take steps to enhance their intuition, <\/strong>whether they realize it or not. They do this by practicing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eckhart-tolle-meditation-mindfulness\/\">meditation<\/a>, finding quiet places for contemplation, and regularly clearing their minds in other ways to boost their intuitive skills. In surveys, these individuals report how these techniques have improved their decision-making abilities and overall luck in various aspects of their lives. Therefore, Wiseman concludes that lucky people treat their intuition as a valuable tool and make a point of fostering and listening to their feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Wiseman\u2019s methods for improving intuition all involve activities we normally think of as relaxing, but in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/ultralearning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Ultralearning<\/em><\/a>, Scott Young suggests a different approach. He writes that our conscious minds often fixate on surface-level aspects of a problem, and that you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/ultralearning\/chapter-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">train your intuition to delve into deeper knowledge by <em>challenging <\/em>your mind<\/a> instead of relaxing it. You can do this by forcing yourself to struggle when you encounter a difficult problem, questioning what you think you know, and connecting abstract information to concrete examples. For instance, to develop an intuitive mental map of a new city, you should force yourself to work out directions to specific destinations without relying on your phone\u2019s GPS.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s the psychology behind following your gut? How is intuition like a muscle? We&#8217;ve all been told to &#8220;trust your gut feeling&#8221; at some point in our lives. Psychologist Richard Wiseman explains why this is important and why you should never ignore warning signals. Continue reading to learn more about following your gut, from the book The Luck Factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":133113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[1627],"class_list":["post-133072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-psychology","tag-the-luck-factor","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Psychology Behind Following Your Gut Instinct - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Believe it or not, there&#039;s a scientific reason why you should follow your gut. Here&#039;s a look at where gut instincts come from. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/follow-your-gut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Psychology Behind Following Your Gut Instinct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Believe it or not, there&#039;s a scientific reason why you should follow your gut. Here&#039;s a look at where gut instincts come from. 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