Risk is inevitable and a part of life. All self-help books are constantly coercing you to go after what you love and not be tempted by the security that comes with the so called safer option. On my journey of self-discovery, I was constantly introduced to the concept of risk. At first, it seemed easier than it looked-but in practice, the challenge of overcoming even simple risks seemed like an endless mountain to climb. The struggle between intuition vs reason.
The reason behind my difficulty I realized stemmed from intuition. Now before you take my head off for questioning the viability of intuition – Hear me out….this article is not to downsize the role of intuition in any way. I personally feel, intuition is our mind’s natural autopilot that protects us when we just stop thinking. It is a collection of past events, stories and actions that the mind has carefully selected and sorted into an elegant “how to guide?” It is this very guide that you keep using whenever you are too lazy to actually think or make decisions. Therefore this post is purely to assist you in questioning your “intuition vs reason” when making important decisions which require risk taking.
Intuition vs Reason – Knowing which to choose
Questioning your intuition for every little thing can be hard-work. I mean imagine driving for twenty years and still concentrating on when to shift and when to break. Your intuition has probably got that one covered. After countless exercises You probably can focus less on the mechanics of driving and more on staying diligent on the road. There may be cases however when intuition does you a disfavor like hindering your ability to achieve your goals. Because intuition builds fear. It the voice at the back of your head that warns you not to do something. It has developed a conclusion that scientifically and theoretically according to what you fed it over the years. It thinks the risk you plan to take is not a good idea or not possible. This however, is the time that you need to rewind to first principles and critically examine the thought processes that are leading to you feeling this way. Are they justified? if not, then you can merely take it as a fault in your intuition and move on you merry way. But if there is some cause for concern then move on to determine if your intuition is over exaggerating the consequences.
How to overcome valid consequences brought up by intuition
So if you found that your intuition was correct in it’s assumption… what then? Its simple, as with all other things weight out the consequences of the risk vs the consequences of not overcoming the fear of the risk. Is not approaching a beautiful girl that may be “the one” – acceptable to you? – because according to your intuition most beautiful girls in the past rejected you. That’s up to you to decide. Just remember that all cases are never the same, and intuition is at best a guess on how things are likely to end up if you take a risk. This may be the one girl that actually takes to your bravery in approaching her as no other guy was brave enough to do so. So always weigh up your options…
Changing your intuition into something more effective
Think of intuition as the software to your computer system – in our case, our mind. The more upgrades you feed it, the better your computer will run with little crashes and more efficiency. In the same way,The more accurate and unbiased information you feed your brain – the better it runs. The best way to do this is through constant learning and exposure to different viewpoints. Self-introspection is also important to analyse how you take in the information. I have also found that actually experiencing things for yourself,is the best way to build better intuition – as you will have first hand information about the encounter and how it affected you on a personal basis. Often info by word of mouth becomes skewed by people who have had something negative happen that affected the viability of their perception. One failed entrepreneur’s advice isn’t enough to base an assumption that entrepreneurship is risky and you wouldn’t want your intuition to be based on such an unjustified insight.
Use this post as a stepping stone to evaluating and overcoming the fear of risk. Remember never to live life with regrets. Take risks but also be smart about it. You will soon discover that you always need to weigh up intuition vs reason especially if it has huge impacts in your life.
To learn how to live life consciously and with a clear perspective; read this ultimate guide: A Mindful Approach To Self Actualization
