🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️
“I really regret not trusting my gut.” 🤔💭
Your gut instinct – that incredibly strong feeling, that’s not always easy to articulate or explain, and which is often contradicted by conventional wisdom 💡 – is a key part of decision-making in a professional career, including academia.
But the popular narrative revolves around two overly simplified scenarios: situations where people (retrospectively) regret not trusting their gut 😔, and situations where great success resulted from someone trusting their gut, against all contrary advice 🚀💪.
The reality of gut instincts is that if you’re in a career where you’re pushing your boundaries 🌟, you’re going to regularly need to choose between gut instinct and conventional wisdom and advice, and sometimes your choice will be wrong. You try to get it right every time, but it’s not always going to turn out that way.
So, what can you do?
Well, you can understand the nature of gut instinct 🧠, including common situations where you should ignore it, not because it’s not correct, but because the framing is wrong – where it’s not perfectly aligned with the current situation (you have a strong feeling, but it’s about a slightly different issue to the one at hand).
You can understand that the choice inherently depends on the nature of expertise and experience gaps 👥📈 between you and those advising you, and on how customized and personalized their advice is to your specific circumstances.
You can visualize and workshop the aftermath of trusting (or not) your gut instinct, and the consequences ⚖️, both in terms of how you’d explain why you went against the advice of experts to them, and the upside and downside risk 📉📈.
In some cases, these visualization exercises will change your decision – in others, it’ll firm up your commitment to the path, but with better awareness of the broader situation. Asymmetric opportunities where the almost certain outcome is negative are often those where gut instinct can be a savior against conventional wisdom 🚨.
Finally, if you’re in the business of supervising, advising, mentoring, or leading 🗣️, you need to understand how gut instinct will drive (and sometimes mislead through incorrect framing) the decision-making of those you advise, in order to be the best supervisor you can.
#decisionmaking #advice #advising #supervision #mentoring #academic #research #academia #careeradvice #wisdom #risk #consequences #HackingAcademia #Milford #MichaelMilford #podcast #YouTube #video #tutorial
Full Video Notes
One common experience that arises frequently in professional careers, including academia, is deciding whether to trust your gut or instinct—or to follow conventional wisdom and advice from those around you. You’ll often hear two types of stories.
In one, someone ignores their gut instinct, follows the common advice, and later deeply regrets it, wishing they’d trusted their gut in retrospect. In the other, someone goes against all conventional wisdom, follows their gut instinct, and ends up wildly successful. These narratives are especially common in situations like startup founders defying conventional expectations to achieve extraordinary success.
Gut instinct, or instinct, isn’t a well-defined concept, but I’d describe it as a strong, unshakable feeling about the choice you should make in a decision. Often, it’s difficult to articulate the reasons for this feeling, but it’s accompanied by an almost intuitive certainty about the right path forward. The tension arises when your gut instinct points one way and conventional wisdom or advice points another.
In my career, this has come up repeatedly, particularly in grant and fellowship applications. While I’ve often been advised to adopt a conventional approach, I’ve strongly felt that including outreach, engagement, and science communication—key parts of my career identity—was essential, even though these weren’t formally assessed criteria. Ignoring the common advice and following my gut in these cases seems to have paid off.
Moving Beyond Simple Narratives
However, I want to move beyond these simplified narratives of regret or wild success. They don’t represent the reality for most people.
For someone in a job well within their skillset and experiences, trusting their gut instinct will almost always lead to the right decision. But in many careers, especially in academia and research, we’re constantly pushing our boundaries—working in areas beyond our comfort zones where our skillsets may be less developed. In these situations, the dynamic is much messier.
Sometimes, conventional wisdom will be correct. Other times, your gut instinct will be right. But your gut instinct is by no means an infallible source of truth. Blindly trusting it can lead to trouble. Understanding why this happens and having a framework to guide your decision-making can make all the difference.
Key Factors to Consider
The framing of this issue often revolves around two competing forces: what your gut instinct tells you to do versus what conventional wisdom and external advice suggest. To navigate this tension, consider these factors:
- Experience and Skill Gap
If there’s a large gap between your experience and that of the people giving you advice, you should bias your decision toward the experts. While there are exceptions, a significant gap in experience increases the chances that your gut instinct may not be correct.However, if the advice is cookie-cutter or fails to consider your unique circumstances, aspirations, and goals, it may be worth trusting your gut. Your instinct, by definition, is often more aligned with your personal situation. - Gut Instinct Isn’t Always Correct
While your gut can sometimes be right, it’s important to recognize that it’s not always the best guide—especially in unfamiliar territory. The goal isn’t to perfectly predict whether your gut is correct but to develop a framework for evaluating your decisions.
A Framework for Decisions
Here are three processes you can use to decide whether to trust your gut or follow conventional wisdom:
- Articulate Your Gut Feeling
Try to unpack why you feel a certain way. Sometimes, this will come easily, but other times, you may need to talk through it with someone else. Their perspective can help you analyze the underlying reasons for your instinct. - Check the Framing
Ensure that your gut instinct aligns with the actual context of the decision. This often comes up with prospective students considering a PhD. For example, they might believe their resilience and drive will ensure success, but they may not have accounted for external factors like competing responsibilities. Helping them decouple capability from priorities can help clarify the decision. - Visualize the Consequences
Imagine explaining your decision to those who advised you. If your gut instinct turns out to be wrong, how will you justify your choice? This isn’t about avoiding awkward conversations but about visualizing the potential outcomes. If you feel confident in your reasoning despite potential disagreement, it can reinforce your decision to trust your gut.
Considering Upside and Downside
When making decisions, think about the potential upside and downside. For example, if you’re applying for a grant or fellowship with a 5% success rate, the prior expectation is that you’ll be unsuccessful. In this case, following conventional advice may not be enough to stand out. Trusting your gut and taking an unorthodox approach could give you a competitive edge. If you’re wrong, you were already facing long odds, but the upside of a bold move could be significant.
Conversely, for mundane tasks where experienced people offer personalized advice, it may make more sense to follow conventional wisdom. Assess the consequences and weigh them against the risks of trusting your gut.
Gut Instinct in Professional Growth
Your gut instinct can be a valuable guide, but it’s not a magic solution—especially when you’re pushing boundaries. Sometimes, the framing of your instinct doesn’t align with the situation. Other times, it may simply be wrong. What matters is having a structured process or set of principles to guide your decision-making.
Over time, you can refine your framework by reflecting on past decisions. This approach also applies to mentoring and supervision, where understanding the origins of someone else’s gut instinct can help you provide sensitive, constructive advice.
Good luck!