Trust your gut: The art of intuitive decision-making

I've made some of my best business decisions by going with my gut. I've also made some of my worst ones by ignoring it.

"Trust your gut" sounds like throwaway advice, but there's actually a real connection between your brain and your gut. When you learn to tap into it, you can process your past experiences, preferences, and instincts way faster than sitting around analyzing spreadsheets. The trick is learning how to actually do it, and how to tell the difference between intuition and panic.

If you've been burned before (or you're just not sure your gut is reliable), I think you can train yourself to get better at this. Here's what's worked for me.

Doubting yourself can get you into trouble

If you're an entrepreneur, you've probably dealt with impostor syndrome at some point. I know I have. The doubt creeps in and you start asking yourself things like:

How will I know which decision is best for me and my business?
Could this decision accidentally make things worse?
Am I even qualified to make this decision?
What if all of this blows up in my face?

When that happens, it's tempting to go looking for examples of how other people handled similar situations. And that can help sometimes. But it'd be a lot better to have your own internal compass for navigating the tough calls that are going to come up no matter what.

You can build that compass. It just takes practice.

Step 1: Learn to distinguish between gut feelings and fear

This is the hardest part, honestly. But here's a simple way to think about it.

Intuition is a feeling of certainty that comes from somewhere deeper. You can't fully explain it, but you know it's true.

Fear is usually driven by external stuff: uncertainty, competition, perceived risk. Things outside your control that lead to worry or dread.

These are two very different emotions, and you need to know which one is running the show at any given moment.

Step 2: Align your choices with your goals

One good way to tell intuition from fear is to test drive your decisions. Imagine the outcome of each choice and see how it lines up with your business goals.

You don't have to go all in every time. Just work through the scenarios in your head and test each possible outcome. You'll start to get a feel for whether a particular decision sits right or not.

Step 3: Make smaller business bets to build trust in your abilities

You can build confidence in your intuition by making smaller bets (a.k.a. taking calculated risks).

Start with low-risk decisions. Get a few wins. That reinforces trust in your own judgment. As you gain more experience and confidence, you can gradually increase the size and complexity of what you're deciding on.

Over time, decision-making starts to feel more natural. You'll know when to pump the brakes or hit the gas, and you won't second-guess yourself as much.

Step 4: Use the snap judgment test

At this point, you've worked through gut feelings vs. fear, goal alignment, and calculated risks.

The snap judgment test is the final boss. Now you can draw from everything you've learned and start making quick business decisions based on intuition. This is really what "trusting your gut" means, and the resulting decision is usually the right one if you've put in the work.

But people often forget one part of this: assessing your results.

After you make a snap call, follow up with yourself:

Was my intuition right this time?
Did external factors play more of a role than I expected?
What could I have done better?

Being honest with your evaluation is almost as important as trusting your gut in the first place.

Don't skip this step.

A word of caution: Intuition can sometimes be influenced by confirmation or availability bias. Being aware of those biases and actively working against them will make your snap judgments better over time.

What the best business leaders say about intuition

You don't have to look far to find examples of successful intuitive decision-making from some of the best business leaders out there.

Steve Jobs was known for trusting his gut on product development. He famously said, "It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it."

Jeff Bezos has talked about using intuition to identify promising new markets. He's said, "I believe in the power of wandering. All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, guts... not analysis."

There's something to that. Don't be afraid to rely on your intuition when you're making tough business decisions. It's a skill, and it gets better the more you use it.