Intuition or reasoning? Which makes the best decisions?
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Are you aware of which you prefer and why? Would you like to make better decision?
Good decision-making is based on several factors. There are those who rely on their intuition, while others live by reasoning. Which is best? Both bring great value. Both can lead to regret. Both can lead to great decisions or an automatic learning opportunity.
Let’s compare the two.
REASONING: This involves thought, data, research and other metrics to come to a conclusion. Taking the time to analyze information is a powerful tool to use when making sound decisions.
If this is your north star, stay calm and carry on, though consider adding intuition to your decision-making game. Reasoning can be broken up into 3 catagories:
Deductive reasoning - implementing a logical sequence process, starting with cause, and ending with effect.
Inductive reasoning - a conclusion is drawn using general information.
Abductive reasoning - taking time to evaluate both the facts and the actions.
If you live and die by the power of reasoning, be diligent in your accumulation of information. If your source is too general, it can lead to inaccurate and costly conclusions. Know and trust your sources. (WMD’s during the Gulf War). Make sure you understand the information and that you can effectively translate and implement that knowledge. Knowledge is one thing, the ability to use it is another.
“All possible knowledge, then, depends on the validity of reasoning...Unless human reasoning is valid no science can be true.” - C.S Lewis
Technology offers endless platforms to collect and translate data into highly effective sales strategies; this can be CRM systems, lead generation tools, CSI surveys etc. If reasoning is your north star, stay calm and carry on, though consider developing your intuition for added value.
2. INTUITION: If you’re an intuitive, know that you live in a different time, space continuum than logical thinkers… neither better nor worse… just different.
You may find logical thinkers unable to understand your convictions based on your gut screaming to do what simply FEELS right. How can you be so sure based on a feeling? Lieutenant Colombo always had a hunch (as do most detectives. It’s a feeling that is deeper than thought or intellect. It stems from the heart.
The heart is the cradle of our intuition, of our creativity. Great innovators are strongly connected to their intuition. They obey the signals from the heart.
The HeartMath Institute executed nineteen years of extensive research on the relationship between the psychophysiology of stress, emotions, and the interactions between the heart and brain. They concluded that the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart.
If intuition is your compass, stay calm and carry on, though consider adding reasoning to your decision-making game.
“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” - Albert Einstein
You’ve got this.
Growth and learning comes in trying something new and different or investing time to develop an existing trait. Many feel too at home in the safety of their comfort zones, reluctant to risk, fail, learn, discover, and progress. Dare to try a new spice with your pig intestine lunch today.
Ultimately, each must live life according to their needs, beliefs, intellectual expectations and emotional desires. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula in life. You decide. Perhaps the answers is to be aware as to which of the two works for you and optimize that platform.
The reality is, reasoning tells us we can never truly know or predict. My intuition tells me the same exact thing, we can never truly know or predict. Combining intuition with reasoning, my conclusion is that the ultimate answer is to develop the ability to live with the consequences or outcome of any decision you make, good bad or ugly.
