Decision Making is a Whole Body Affair

Robust research unambiguously shows that when we bring our 'gut instinct' online we make more effective decisions. This bite-sized morsel of an article demystifies some of the ins-and-outs of how you can bring more of your whole of body intelligence online.

“I KNEW this wouldn’t work out the whole time! I should have listened to myself!”

I know when I’ve thought those words it’s usually when I’ve articulated a nagging sensation I’ve had in my gut the whole time, but my head overrode it with carefully formulated reasoning.

In both professional and personal life, making good decisions is at the root of success and happiness. Both common sense and research shows us that this is not just a head-based process. We make decisions with our bodies as well. Lisa Fields of Northeastern University takes this a step further and posits that the main purpose of our brain is to read our bodies. This is because our nervous systems are sending us a constant stream of information about the world. We register a significant portion of this information as our ‘gut instinct’.

Whilst there are some decisions that can be mulled over, there are others that need to be made in real time. These decisions in particular are made most effectively when we listen to our gut instinct. Affirming this Cambridge University published research in 2016 that showed that the more in tune share traders were with their gut instinct, the more successful their financial performance. This finding has been supported more recently in a different context by Cornell University researchers in March 2019. This recent study showed that people who listen to their gut instinct make better (or in other words more effective) decisions.

The biggest obstacle to listening to our gut instinct is when we get into our heads and overthink the challenges or choices that face us. Keeping ourselves present to our body intelligence, or gut instinct is something that can be learned. But this can be tricky because our heads are very quick to rationalise or make up stories when we first perceive our gut instinct.

Harvard Business School researcher, Shawn Anchor, cautioned against believing the stories we tell ourselves when making decisions because a significant portion of the stories we tell ourselves are told to us by our inner critics and saboteurs. These parts of us are adept and sneaky at weaving their stories into the dialogue running in our heads. Because of this Daniel Goleman, champion of the term ‘emotional intelligence’, states in no uncertain terms that inner critic work is the foundation of balanced decision making.

Sandy Farac and I have spent the last 12-months building and refining a four-week course that delves into taming the inner critic and saboteur with the specific intention of supporting balanced decision making that harmonises both our body-based gut instinct and head-based cognition. Our course draws from the latest neuroscientific research in addition to employing tried and tested psychological and psychotherapeutic approaches to sculpt an experiential adult learning journey. Our goal was to produce a course that worked for us by supporting the natural 3-step pathway for long-term transformation: experience, integrate and evolve.

We will be running this course as live and interactive online webinars from Wednesday January 8-January 29, 2020 from 7-9-9:30pm (Australian Eastern Summer Time). 4 sessions, two facilitators and a maximum of 12-participants.

If you are interested in joining us, please DM either Sandy or myself so we can share more information with you. We have levels of support with this course; people can opt to attend only the webinars, or can package the webinars with four individual sessions to embed the work with a 20% discount.

This course could also make for a brilliant Christmas/ birthday/ ‘Just Because’ gift as well. Just sayin’.

Here are a few comments from people who have been through:

“This course is ideal for you if you want to move forward in your life but can't seem to make the progress you know you're capable of. If you've felt that you're hitting 'invisible' barriers, or making similar mistakes repeatedly and can't seem to change things - then your answers might be here. Be prepared for uncovering layers of yourself that you don't even realise are holding you back and watch yourself grow and move forward with the insights and techniques gained from this course. Amar & Sandy are a wonderfully balanced team who provide a safe and inviting space for vulnerability and learning.”

“This course has massively shifted my understanding of my inner critic and saboteur. I understood these aspects of myself previously but never appreciated their interrelationship and dynamics.”

Some references for the keen/ curious and inspired:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331510596_Follow_Your_Gut_Emotional_Intelligence_Moderates_the_Association_Between_Physiologically_Measured_Somatic_Markers_and_Risk-Taking

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/opinion/brain-body-thinking.html

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/gut-feelings-help-make-more-successful-financial-traders

Shawn Anchor, (2018) Big Potential, p.170.