This is my favourite decision making technique.

It applies to logical situations, but it’s not very scientific.  In fact it’s not scientific at all. 

Case in point… 

Recently I got together with a few buddies for some poker.  And an interesting hand came up.

It was just me and my mate Dan in the pot.

He’d made a big bet and was putting me to the test.

Could he be bluffing? Or did he actually have a strong hand?

I started thinking things through.  There was a lot to think about.

What do I know about Dan?

I’ve played poker with him for years.  He knows the game like the back of his hand and he’s clued-up on the latest poker theory.

He’s a tad more conservative than some of the players at the table, but he knows I know this.  Could he be using this to his advantage?

He's re-raised before the flop, but he’d only made a small bet.  Was this consistent with having a strong hand now?

What was his body language saying?  He looked cool calm and collected, but he’s always been a pretty cool customer at the poker table.

He’d also won a couple of big pots earlier.  How might that impact his play on this hand?

We’d been playing for a few hours.   Might that mean he’s tired?

How had he handled his chips as he put them in the pot? 

How confidently did he announce his bet? 

All these questions went through my head in a few seconds.  There was a lot of information to process.

And I was facing a sizeable bet.  So this was one of my biggest decisions of the evening.

After thinking it all through, I realised the merits of calling and folding were pretty balanced.

So what did I do?

I decided to go with my gut.

You could say I followed a feeling or used my intuition.

Whatever it was, it was probably a combination of everything I’d thought about.  And things I wasn’t even aware of. 

And my body was giving me the answer.

So I folded.

And Dan said “nice fold” before sliding his hand in to the muck.

After all that - I still didn’t know if I’d made the right decision!

But I made the best decision I could at the time.

And my gut was the deciding factor.

I’ve found this “gut check” to be useful over the years.

Not just for poker, but in all aspects of life.

I always knew deep down, in my gut, that quitting my job was the right thing for me.

But I ignored this feeling for a long time.

I know now that it usually serves me better to get out of my head when I'm making big decisions.

Especially where my gut has experience to fall back on.

It’s like my body instinctively knows what’s right…

Even if I can’t always put it in to words, or construct a logical train of thought to support the decision I'm making.

So it might be worth asking…

How often do you trust your gut?

Maybe something to think about.

That's all for today.

Have a great Tuesday.

- Tom

p.s. Whenever you're ready, here are the ways you can connect with me