Not got the guts to make a decision
Why is it that people who use what they call their gut instincts to make decisions think they are superior to those who don't?
I have been feeling tetchy about this during the past few weeks as, in common with 295 of the journalists employed by Trinity Mirror in the Midlands, we have had to decide whether to apply for new jobs within the company or volunteer to be made redundant.
For me that choice has been about whether to apply to become an all-singing, all-dancing multi-media journalist in Birmingham or fly off to Barbados - son under one arm, husband linked in another - and build a house.
"What does your gut tell you?" people have asked when I have said I am gathering the information I need to make the decision.
It is a question I find particularly irritating because it seems the question is an attempt to foreclose my own processes. There is the implicit assumption I should just listen to my guts and go with that.
That might be fine for people who work like that, but I don't.
I ask questions. I gather information. I write lists of pros and cons. I spend 24 hours imagining I have said "yes" to one scenario and then spend 24 hours imagining I have said "yes" to the other.
I analysis my feelings, trying to distinguish between excitement and escapism, between fear and foolhardiness.
I give myself a time limit. I make a decision and it always comes with a list of reasons why.
What I don't do is go with my initial instinct simply because it was my initial instinct.
And yet there is a plethora of books about why we should do just that. Dollars have been poured into scientific research proving that that is the way to do it. Friends look aghast when I say I wrote lists under the headings "for" and "against" when I was deciding whether or not to get married.
That's fine, guys, you can go with your instincts if you want but don't crowd my space - I need to use my head.
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Asking people what their gut instinct is sometimes an easy filler of a question when you're not sure how to react to someone's news or comments. It's rather a cliche - like the psychiatrist asking their client "how X made them feel".
Some people do set a lot of store by what their guts are "telling" them. I listen to the gut and then spend hours, days or weeks agonising over whether or not I should trust it. It might have my cruel sense of humour and just be tricking me anyway...A journalist never trusts anyone and always questions statements made,so it stands to reason we would do the same with ourselves.
With the advent of redundancies over our heads, I've found my "gut instincts" telling make different things: "be brave, make a break and do something else" and, in equal measure, "stay put.It's safer to have a regular income."
When such important decisions are having to be made, I agree with Jo that gut instincts alone are unhelpful. A cerebral and analytical approach is required above all...but occasionally that gut just gets it right (or am I just remembering the times it did? There may be other times when it got it hopelessly wrong - but I've just forgotten.
Decisions, decisions...
Jayne
One's gut, or visceral reaction, tends to outlast more abstract indications of what to do at a moment of decision. For people who want to be comfortable with a decision, taking account of feelings is a sensible thing to do.
But it ain't necessarily so for everyone. If I were in that position I'd be thinking about the lure of trying something new, extending myself in yet another direction. I'd ask who or what was at risk, and whether I had the prerogative of imposing my decision on others. I might decide that a bit of instability would be good for the entire family, and go off on an adventure that would probably not be on offer again.
Whether you have a naturally optimistic or pessimistic personality comes into play, as well. If you are pessimistic you are never disappointed...
J
I find that helpful, Jayne, to think that when people are asking me what my gut says they might just be filling in rather than telling me to switch off my brain, which is how I interpret it. (I'd rather they said: 'Where are you in your thinking?)
When I said I don't go with my initial instinct, dp, I didn't mean I don't take feelings into account. I do. Ultimately, that's what a decision boils down to - which option makes you FEEL better. But feelings changed from day to day, so they need to be tested and analysed, the deep ones sorted from the superficial ones, fear named for what it is.
People are very different in this respect. Some are more gut-lead, others more analytical. Each person has to use whatever process suits them best.
I don't have any answers to your dilemma Jo, but as a former colleague, I wish you and Jayne, and everyone else at the BPM, well in the difficult decisions you have to make. Having faced redundancy in recent years, my instinct was to stick with what I knew, and I haven't had cause to regret it so far. The possibility of a major life-change - like emigrating - might have made me think differently, though. Journalists have a lot of transferable skills they can take to other jobs - it's just leaving the safety of that comfort zone, isn't it?
Thanks for the good wishes Dot. Jayne has volunteered for redundancy. I've just bought her a celebratory coffee and muffin.
I don't really see it as a comfort zone issue. The new jobs are so different from the old ones, it's all-change whatever way we go. It's a shake-up I'm enjoying.