Go with Your Gut: A Guide to Trusting Your Instincts at Work

“There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking

Imagine you’re sitting in a conference room, listening to your colleagues go on about a problem the company needs to solve. People are making suggestions, but none of them are great, and the team is getting nowhere. You have an idea that seems so obvious to you and you think it will work, yet you hold your tongue. If it was a good suggestion, someone would have said it already, right?

Ignore the voice telling you not to say it (she’s a form of imposter syndrome, which we can talk about another time). Instead, listen to the voice with the idea: That’s your gut instinct giving you a good answer. Trust it.

An instinct is more than intuition. Everything you know about the world creates thousands of pieces of microdata and information in your conscious and subconscious mind (your skills, experiences, knowledge, customer insights, and data) that your subconscious processes into a feeling. That feeling is simply, “you know you know.”

Trusting that instinct has become one of my core principles. When a team member or a mentee comes to me stuck on solving a product or UX problem, I ask her questions, help her get to a place where I know she has all the pieces and then ask, “What does your gut say?” Nine times out of 10, she answers within seconds. I can say, “It sounds like you have your answer” and she can bring the solution back to the team to keep the project moving.

“We all have it inside of us, this knowing, and the more you pay attention to it, and honor it, the louder and more clear it will be.”
― Sara Blakely, founder and CEO of Spanx

Early in your career, honoring this inner voice can be tough! I was in senior roles by the age of 25 in the early dot-com era. I knew I had good ideas (and the beginnings of good instincts), but did not yet have the understanding of how to influence and lead a team. So when a bully did his best to make me look incompetent at work, I shrunk and allowed my instincts to be silenced.

Saying “I have a hunch” or “my instincts tell me X” without context can make people nervous. And as a woman, it can be even harder to be taken seriously, as there is still a significant gap in capability perception between men and women, despite the fact that women score higher than men in most leadership skills. Your boss and your colleagues (or someone you’re pitching your business idea to) need to know you make decisions based on facts and data and not just an idea in your head. One artful solution to this is to supplement your recommendation with data. Basically, show your work.

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”
― Dr. Joyce Brothers

As for my own battle with negative thoughts, I have learned that mindfulness was a powerful weapon for me. I learned meditation through my yoga practice, and to this day, I continue to practice silencing the voice that says “this isn’t good enough” on and off my mat. If you’re ever near me in a yoga class, you’ll hear me doing some serious Ujjayi breaths during my down dogs and planks — followed by a really long child’s pose where I let myself “just be.” And if you sit next to me in an office, you’ll hear an occasional really deep sigh, which is usually me resetting and remembering to breathe and talk to myself in a kind way.

In my work, I talk to so many other people who struggle with trusting their own ideas and instincts, when that trust is the very thing that could make their jobs and lives easier.

I once managed a rockstar team of young women, but in ways small and big, they demonstrated that they didn’t trust their instincts nor their experience. They hedged their bets, hesitated to speak up in meetings, and deferred to other colleagues and stakeholders — all when they had good ideas and insights. One striking example was a young woman who hesitated with almost every communication. She second-guessed the tone and wording of emails she needed to send, over-complicating them and spiraling into analysis paralysis, which often delayed important messages.

There are a host of factors that can send you down this rabbit hole of doubt. Uncertainty and change — which many businesses grapple with all the time — can contribute to a feeling that you can’t (or shouldn’t) make decisions based on your usually trustworthy instincts.

There’s also that pesky inner critic, which is notorious for causing people to doubt their abilities. Having to take on new responsibilities, or attempting something you’ve never done before, can also wreak havoc on an otherwise confident person’s approach to work. Fear of failure can paralyze.(And a global pandemic, along with economic and political distress amplifies emotions.)

In the case of the team I was managing, they had experienced massive change in the months leading up to this situation. Uncertainty about the future and their place in it seems to have been a contributing factor to their self-doubt. So I set to work at helping them build up their confidence.

However counterintuitive it may seem, when you trust your instincts, the thoughts and feelings that come with that self-trust can build your confidence and drive you to become your most creative. Simply put, believing in your own ability to make decisions gives you freedom to do even more.

So in times of uncertainty, it’s crucial that you go deep and remember who you are, where you’ve been, and what you have to offer. Instincts can be powerful, but you have to believe in yours to make the most of them.

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Take Action

Here are some things you can do to flex that muscle of trusting your instincts:

1. Do whatever it takes to shift your mindset to a more positive place. Stay present and hear the story you’re telling yourself. Then boost your confidence and then rewrite the script in your head. Author and speaker Denise Jacobs has some great tips for doing this by using what she calls our three power tools: neuroplasticity, mindfulness, and self-compassion. You can learn more from this inspirational creative in her book, Banish Your Inner Critic, and her related LinkedIn course
2. Write down your skills and accomplishments. Keep them somewhere you will see them regularly. I keep a running list of work accomplishments — both for myself and my team — in my personal Trello board, so I can easily add new ones and can refer back to the list easily. This list will be valuable when you do your self-evaluation, and on a day when you’re doubting your value, you can remind yourself the value you add at work.
3. Notice when you use your instincts and practice using them for small things, in work or in your personal life. And for bigger challenges, instead of asking your manager how to approach a problem, try going to her with the solution and ask for her take.
4. Look at the proof! Acknowledge when your instincts are right and remember it when you doubt yourself. When someone gives you positive feedback or a compliment, thank them graciously (and write it on that list in step 2!)
5. Analyze what contributed to an instinctual decision, so you can see what went into it. Knowing the data will remind you that you have the experience.

Leaders: Take Action

If you’re a manager, you can support your team members by coaching them to trust their instincts. Here are a few approaches:

1. Empower them by helping them see which tools and knowledge to apply to a situation or project.
2. Give credit to teams and individuals publicly and privately for their accomplishments and skills. Making sure colleagues and stakeholders know what a person is really good at will give them opportunities.
3. Encourage team members to keep a brag file. Whenever someone on my team has a win, I remind them to add it to their list. They can use it when they’re writing their self-review at the end of the year.
4. Offer opportunities to share their expertise with colleagues by presenting, leading a project, or asking them to upskill a peer.
5. Support their need for more information, training, background, or coaching in whatever ways you can.

“You can have tons of talent, but it won’t necessarily keep you fed.
If you have sharp instincts, though, you’ll never go hungry.”
―Haruki Murakami, 1Q84