I Trust My Gut. I Just Had to Learn Which Voice Was Actually My Gut!

I've always trusted my gut.  I still do, and I'd rather back a fast instinct than talk myself into a slow, ‘sensible’ answer - I don't think overthinking is a virtue, and I'm not about to start recommending it to anyone else.

What I've had to learn, more slowly than I'd like, is that not every fast ‘yes’ is actually instinct.  Some of it is panic, wearing instinct's clothes so convincingly I couldn't always tell them apart.  I still can't, not perfectly.  But I've started noticing a difference underneath the same speed and the same certainty - and once you've felt it once, it's hard to unsee.

Learning to spot that difference didn't happen in one sitting either.  It showed up in pieces, the same way most things worth learning do - a client conversation that clarified something I hadn't articulated before.  A decision I regretted almost immediately, and one I didn't regret at all, made at exactly the same speed.  A pattern I only recognised the fifth time it repeated, not the first.

I don't think you learn to tell instinct from panic in one clean lesson.  That's a less satisfying story than a single "aha" - there's no one scene to point to - but it's the honest one, and I think it's closer to how most people actually get better at trusting themselves, not just in business but in a career, or in any decision that matters and has to be made faster than feels comfortable.

It's a strange thing to notice this playing out in real time in the business itself, too.  Right now, enquiries for group sessions are starting to come in - one for an online session at the end of September, one for a masterclass in October, another from a university group at the end of October.  I don't think that's only about people's budgets settling for the new financial year, though that's part of it.  It feels more like a genuine, growing recognition that this kind of structured, shared space is something people actually need - not just to get through a difficult patch, but to feel properly supported, and to remember their own value in the process.  That's not a conclusion I'm imposing from the outside; it's simply what the timing itself seems to be telling me.

If you've ever caught yourself saying yes fast and then quietly trying to find a way out of it, I don't think the answer is to slow everything down - that's not honest to how most of us actually work well.  It’s more about learning what your own panic sounds like, so you can tell it apart from the instinct it's imitating.

What's the last decision you made in an instant — and looking back, which voice was actually talking?

Emma is a coach working with creative professionals and organisations who are ready to explore opportunities and move forward with clarity and purpose.  If this resonates, get in touch.