I’ve been thinking about how to combine the intuitive feeling side with the logical process-orientated side. Anyone who wants to achieve anything inspiring will have to deal with both at some point and manage the internal conflict that emerges from the two sides.
Intuition and logic
For example, I know I want to get fitter and I know that will have benefits. My intuition tells me that to achieve this I’ll need to go to the gym, run, swim, cycle, whichever is my preferred method. The intuition telling me to do that is a feeling in a sense and it’s worth listening to. Unfortunately, feeling hungry, a bit tired, or just not quite up to it are also feelings that tell me I can get short-term satisfaction by listening to them.
Apes, lizards, jellyfish
There are several psychological models out there that talk about this as parent vs child, ape-brain vs lizard brain or even jellyfish-lizard-mouse brain.
but they all essentially mean that we are conflicted internally as we try to wrestle short-term comfort with longer term goals. There is also plenty of advice to plan your way to the goal in manageable, bite-size amounts, just get started and so on.
It doesn’t hurt to have a process
Increasingly, I’m finding that having a process helps no matter how small. Small processes mean that no time needs to be wasted in thinking how. Instead it’s more “I’ll try this and improve my approach as necessary”. The key is that the only commitment is to carry out a small process and reflect on it briefly. There are no major plans to follow through with or long term goals, just a few repeatable steps that, trust me, will become easier with time.
And how to know which process to start with? Just listen to your gut instinct and then commit to some micro-steps. Then use the logical side to analyse and refine and do things a little bit better next time.
So, how do you listen to your gut effectively? Well, that’s another story entirely.