Instincts

# Chapter 291

Base your decisions on 80% data and 20% instinct to make the right call. - Masterminds

Entrepreneurs have a high sense of confidence in their instinct in my opinion. And perhaps that is what makes them entrepreneurs? Instinct seems so vague to a mere mortal like myself, but it obviously has some substance for others, so knock yourself out. I on the other hand, would seek wisdom from other sources, friends, networks, books, since I don’t think I have any instincts that would come in handy in business. At all. That fact is likely what leads me to suspect any direction labeled as instinct. My book-wormish mind thinks of instinct as some primordial reflex that is related to fight or flight patterns, or something similar to that.

But to those who have it, it is more like a predictive resonance that serves you well. And the “serves you well” part is really important - meaning that it is correct far more often than incorrect. If you can’t depend on it, then it is not serving you at all much less well. From the opening statement above I imagine that you wish for an alignment of your data and your instinct. When they both line up with the stars, then you can make a decision with a high degree of certainty. I like the simple fact that someone is actually looking at the data and that this is recommended to carry 80% of the weight. It seems to me far more often that the numbers are reversed and that the business people I work with are relying on their instincts far more than the data. Let those facts say what they say . . . .