Your Gut Has Shit for Brains (And Other Hard Truths About Intuition)
“I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen.”
No wait, wrong moment.
“I have come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.”
It’s a funny line from the movie Say Anything (testing your age). But also perfectly summarizes how I’ve come to feel about instinct.
Since the book Blink hit the 20-year mark, there’s been renewed buzz around Malcolm Gladwell’s take on intuition. The book is compelling, full of punchy stories about people who trusted their gut and good things happened. But even when I first read it years ago, something didn’t sit right with me.
Isn’t the whole idea of trusting your gut the opposite of critical thinking?
Two decades later and a Harvard course on behavioral decision-making under my belt, I’m more convinced than ever that gut instinct is about as statistically useful as guessing.
For starters, “fast” flies in the face of “smart.” Daniel Kahneman explains this perfectly in Thinking, Fast and Slow. Our brains use two systems. One is automatic but emotional. The other is more effortful but rational.
There are times when fast thinking and using intuition helps, like in high-pressure moments. A firefighter sensing danger or a doctor making a split-second diagnosis. That’s not the case for most of us most of the time. And even when instinct works out, it’s important to recognize that we only hear the success stories.
This is a classic case of survivorship bias. We celebrate the entrepreneur who trusted her gut and built a billion-dollar company. We don’t hear about the dozens of others who did the same and failed. Their stories aren’t turned into anecdotes in bestselling books.
So while instinct can point you in a direction, it should not be the final word. Instead of relying on instinct, I try to pause and ask better questions:
Am I separating facts from assumptions?
Have I looked for input beyond my usual circle?
What emotion might be influencing this decision?
Do I need a little snack before thinking about this?
These questions only take a few seconds. But they help shift decisions from automatic to intentional.
So no, I don’t trust my gut. At least not without checking its work.
Hero image from Say Anything
