Do you know what the worst thing about living in London is?

No, it’s not the crime, grime, cost or stifling heat in the summer.

It’s trying to get IN or OUT of the place!

We’re surrounded by the M25, which is like one of Dante’s circles of hell, tossed over the city like an infernal hoop.

The author Iain Sinclair famously wrote a book about it (‘London Orbital’) in which he says: “The line of traffic advancing towards the rising sun looked like a procession of the returning dead.”

Yep, pretty much sums it up.

The M25 is an almost-permanently clogged river that can turn a relatively short journey into a nightmare.

For instance, the other week I was driving eastwards on the M4 back to the capital.

The usual route home would be via the M25 onto the M40, then the A40 into Central London.

But as I approached the M25 I had a dreadful hunch…

“There’s going to be a traffic jam.”

I had options to avoid it – for instance I could have tried the slower A-roads that plough straight into the city.

But the satnav said it was ok.

So I believed the machine, and used my rational brain to override whatever weird superstitious nonsense was making my stomach turn.

And… lo and behold…

A lorry crash, which can’t have happened too long before my decision, caused a 3-mile tailback.

So I was stuck. For almost an hour!

I know this sounds supernatural, like I’m the kid who sees ghosts in ‘The Sixth Sense’ or Christopher Walken with his powers of ESP in ‘The Dead Zone’.

But I get this a lot.

I often have a gut instinct about things that turn out to be right.

Sometimes I go with my hunch – but, just as often, I override it with rational thoughts or technological tools, usually with annoying consequences.

Take, for example, product launches.

Mostly, these go to plan and I’m enthusiastic about them from start to finish.

Yes, I get nervous before launch day because so much work, time and money goes into them.

That’s only natural…

But very occasionally, on the night before a launch, I get really negative, doomy feelings about a specific product – as if something is not quite right.

Invariably, these feelings turn out to be true, and the sales are disappointing.

However, I don’t think anything mystical is going on in this case.

What I think is happening is that my innate, instinctive senses have spotted that something isn’t quite right, which my logical brain has factored out, so I cannot consciously ‘see’ the faults.

Most of us tend to do this…

We assume that the logical, rational part of our brain is the most important, accurate tool we have for making good decisions about life, relationships and business.

But this is far from the case.

In Defence of the Right Hemisphere

There’s a great book I’ve mentioned to you before, called The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist.

He argues that in the modern western world we largely favour the left hemisphere of the brain.

This part responsible is analytical and rational.

It likes rules, systems and structures of control.

And it’s evolutionarily useful for building tools and language systems, or dealing in abstract logic.

But really, argues McGilchrist, it should not dominate our waking lives, but instead be IN SERVICE to the right hemisphere.

The right-hand side of your brain is instinctive, nuanced and ambiguous.

It likes metaphors, art and music.

And it’s evolutionary useful for having a meaningful lived experience and forging deep connections with people, nature and religious ideas.

In business matters, you tend to get instructed purely in systems-based processes – using number-crunching, data, spreadsheets and step by step formulas….

But while these are often essential checks to have in place, if you really want to succeed, you should also try to unleash your powers of intuition.

And these aren’t only located in your brain!

The science behind a ‘gut feeling’

Your gut isn’t just a means of digesting food.

It also works like a second brain.

Packed inside the walls of your intestines are around 100 million neurons (that’s more than in your spinal cord).

This network, known as the ‘enteric nervous system’, talks to your brain through the vagus nerve, an information superhighway running between your gut and brainstem.

That’s the real biological basis for the phrase “gut feeling.”

So when you feel uneasy before making a decision, it’s not your imagination.

It’s your gut’s neural signals firing into the brain in your head.

Back in 1994, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio proposed that our decisions aren’t purely logical… they’re guided by what he called ‘somatic markers.

These are bodily feelings like stomach butterflies, muscle tension, feelings of warmth or coldness.

They act as shortcuts, steering you toward (or away) from choices without you needing to consciously analyse all the facts or consider every single option.

In other words, your gut feelings are the result of countless subconscious processes.

The psychologist, Daniel Kahneman describes it as two systems:

• System 1 (instinctive): Automatic and unconscious, it’s designed to spot danger, make quick decisions and act without hesitation.
• System 2 (rational): deliberate and conscious, it’s designed to weigh up the evidence, check the calculations, and work through problems. step by step.

Most of the time, System 1 runs the show because it tells you in a split second that the car coming round the corner is too fast, or the person next to you is acting strangely.

System 2 only kicks in when we need to do more planning and thinking.

However, Kahneman points out that we often THINK we’re using the rational system when actually the instinctive system has already made the decision.

All system 2 does is come up with a tidy story that justifies it afterwards!

So how do you get the most from your instinctive mind?

Practical Strategies to Harness The Power of Instinct

Well, the short answer is to try and pay more attention to your feelings throughout the day.

For example….

Every morning write down the first 3 impulsive desires you feel about the day ahead – what is it you REALLY want to do, and what is it that fills you with dread?

These could help guide you live in a way that’s more in tune with your true self, instead of being dragged along by your sense of obligation, or force of habit.

It’s also worth keeping a tracker diary so that you note down times in the day when you feel tension, excitement or fear – and map those feelings onto whatever activities you were doing at the time, or whatever thought processes you were undergoing.

This could help you build up a picture of what your subconscious really feels about your work and relationships.

And when it comes to your online business projects, try to allow more instinct into your decisions.

Don’t agonise over each and every choice… for example what colour to use on a webpage or what photo to choose for a Facebook ad…

Instead, go with the strongest hunch, even if it feels like it’s breaking a rule, or not following a system to-the-letter.

And if you’re stuck between two ideas (e.g. two product niches), imagine committing to one of them.

Now notice your body’s response…

Does your chest feel lighter or tighter?

Do you feel a flicker of excitement or a sinking feeling?

That reaction is often more revealing than doing yet more analysis and deliberation.

Finally, instinct works best when you try not to force it too much.

So if you have a project that requires novel ideas, problem solving or a big decision, then get away from your computer.

Go for a walk… take a shower…. cook dinner… or sit and meditate for 10 minutes.

The best solutions arrive when your conscious mind steps aside and lets your gut-brain do the thinking.