Last updated on 2023.06.10
How do you make Intuiting deliberate? (AMA)
The purpose of this missive is to help you develop your Intuiting (gut feeling) and use it to make decisions more effectively.
A while back I made the unforced error (it wasn’t an error) of promising to answer every serious question in an online AMA with a dedicated missive.
Today I deliver on that promise.
The questions I received are, without exception, hard to the core. Which is exactly what I intended.
People have been wondering about this one for a long time.
This message is also a pretty good example how to approach people online and get them to help you for $0.
Dear Daemon,
My question for you has to do with decision making.
I have found that many of the decisions I think I make are in fact post-rationalizations of decisions that have been largely taken at a sub-conscious level (particularly for certain categories of decision – those influenced by impulse or a lack of understanding of the real problem at hand).
Additionally, I find my sub-conscious component of decision-making being driven by emotional feeling. Although I am also attuned to gut feeling, I find it difficult to incorporate it into the decision making process.
I leave you with two questions:
– How does one go about incorporating more gut feeling over emotional feeling in decision making?
– Lastly, do you have any valuable principles to share on the decision making process (less post rationalizing and more conscientious)?
I would also like to thank you for your invaluable work. I have been a subscriber since June and since then I have channeled plenty of insight and energy I have found in your emails, and began to transform low-performing areas of my life.
Best regards,
An apprentice of Jupiter
He hits the nail on the head from the very beginning,
Most things we do aren’t really the product of conscious decisions; they are the result of unconscious inertia, reactivity and comforting.
This can include big life-shattering decisions like getting married or switching careers.
One of the big thresholds to maturity is to realize that you are not your emotions, and there is nothing about your emotions that makes you worthy or special.
Emotions come and go.
You are not them.
They create energy potential, but it’s entirely up to you if you’d allow them to move you and in which direction.
You absolutely do NOT need them to move.
Most of them are white noise. Or your mindbody trying to get your attention to some altogether different responsibility that you’re neglecting – eating junk food, not sleeping right, consuming coffee, wasting time on the news, etc.
The good decisions you make about the mindbody compound into good decisions you later make on your trajectory to global domination.
So the first thing you need to do is draw a line between Yourself and the emotions you experience. Don’t let them define you. It’s a cheap thrill, and very literally pathetic.
The sooner you cross that threshold, the better.
Emoting is itself a habit. Like having opinions about everything. As you remove the emotional noise, you will make room for your gut feeling – your Intuiting, the Will to Power – to flourish and clarify.
The more energy you give it, the stronger it becomes.
Instead of pouring energy into emotional chaos, draw the line and put the energy into Intuiting instead.
The more you trust your gut and act on it without emotional interference, the better it will become.
What does it mean to have a gut feeling?
It is experienced as a sudden certainty or realization that something will happen or must be done.
You just Know.
It’s usually sudden, not the product of thinking about it over and over. And it’s free of emotional content except perhaps for something arising from the surprise that this has occurred to you or some repressed question, anxiety or emotion that’s being released with the realization.
So you have to actually pay attention to why you feel the way you do if you want to use your gut feeling for anything other than entertainment.
You must do the same thing with your decisions if you want to make them more deliberate – and stronger.
When you have a gut feeling about something, two things are particularly helpful.
First, consider the risks and costs of going with your gut. Find ways to disprove your idea is you can – but without cycling you head. For example, brainstorm the pros and cons on a piece of paper. Think of what bit of data/experience would prove that your gut is wrong – your loss limit.
Second, make sure that when you actually pull the trigger, you aren’t subject to extreme emotional affect such as mania, euphoria, depression or despair. Sometimes you will have a sense of intense clarity that this has to be done even if you’re affective. However, the thing will be detached from the emotional affect. It won’t be something that you’re doing just to get release. It will be meaningful to you and your purpose.
I have said this many times before.
Decide once on most trivial matters – but decide intentionally – and then just execute on that decision over and over and over.
“I work out every day because I have decided to work out every day.”
I don’t need to justify it or prosecute it every day.
Do I have time to work out? Do I have more important things to do? Is it too cold or too hot for a workout?
IT DOESN’T MATTER; I HAVE SO DECIDED.
It’s not even a habit. My default is to work out unless the body tells me it needs a day or two for sleep and recovery.
That removes the decision noise and preserves your decision juice for actually novel and important decisions you need to make as you go. That way you can put more attention into the things that matter or come out of the blue.
As a bonus, this practice will also make you more decisive and less reactive.
To join the community of supporters, go to Patreon or Subscribestar right now.
If you have further questions or comments, hit REPLY and let me know. I read every message I get.
Grow like a hurricane,
Your Daemon
Comments are closed.