On paper, the merger made sense to Priya, the CEO of a fast-growing tech firm: the companies shared a vision and brought complementary strengths. But each time she approached a final decision, a nagging unease pulled her back.
“I just have a gut feeling this isn’t right,” Priya, a former student of mine, told me. (I’m giving her a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of the merger.)
I then asked her a question that she later said changed everything: “Is this your intuition talking — or fear?”
That night, she reflected on the question. Closing her eyes, she tried to sit with her emotions. She called a trusted adviser and went for a run.
Slowly, she began to see it: What felt like intuition was actually her emotional reaction — in this case, a fear of becoming obsolete in a new leadership structure. Once she named it, the fog lifted. Her true gut feeling — clearer now, untainted by fear: This was a once-in-a-career opportunity. She green-lit the merger.
We talk about “trusting our gut” like it’s a superpower. And whether you’re a CEO, a high school senior figuring out your next steps, or a first-time home buyer, gut feeling is an essential compass for navigating the world. But in today’s high-noise environment — where information pours in faster than we can process and emotions run high — it’s not always easy to tap into our own wisdom.
In my forthcoming book, You Already Know: The Science of Mastering Your Intuition, I explore the difference between gut feelings and emotional reactions. What I’ve found is this: Intuition is not impulsive. It’s not anxiety or anger in disguise.
True gut feel is fast, yes. That’s because it’s deeply trained — shaped by experience, sharpened by feedback, and guided by context. Emotion, on the other hand, often masquerades as intuition. When we mistake the two, we can make decisions we regret.
So how do you know if you’re feeling a grounded intuition or just an emotional loop?
Psychologist Arianna Brandolini once offered a perfect metaphor: “Emotions are like children,” she said. “You don’t want them driving your car because they will crash it. You don’t want to shove them in the trunk because they might die. You want them in the back seat where they can be seen and heard and attended to, but they’re not in control of anything.”
The quote has stuck with me because it reframes how we think about emotion. You’re not supposed to suppress your feelings. You are supposed to give them the right role. Your feelings belong in the car — but shouldn’t be steering.
When you’re stuck, start with this gut-check question: Would I make this same decision if I felt completely calm? This can reveal whether your current impulse is grounded — or has been emotionally hijacked.
Another tool: Name the emotion. Research shows that labeling an emotion — I’m feeling ecstatic or I’m anxious about losing control — can lower its intensity and give your more rational brain a chance to re-engage.
An early-stage investor I know once nearly passed on a startup flagged by every AI model as “high risk.” But something about the founder stuck with him — her ability to read markets, the calm she held under pressure. His gut said yes.
He asked himself: If I strip away my anxiety about being wrong, what’s left? His answer: a deep-seated confidence born from dozens of past investments that had looked similarly off-model — yet worked.
He invested. Today, that company is a top player in its industry.
Gut feel isn’t a scream — it’s a whisper. It’s what happens when you’ve seen enough variations of a pattern that your brain starts recognizing signals before you can explain why.
There are easy ways to get better at hearing what your gut is telling you.
Try keeping a record of decisions you make based on gut feel. Later, reflect: Were they right? Over time, this builds a “database” your subconscious can draw on. After every major call — whether it turned out well or poorly — ask yourself: What did I feel going in? What did I ignore? What did I misread? This rewires your intuition to be more accurate.
Practicing decision-making in low-stakes moments, considering hypothetical scenarios calmly and neutrally, builds clarity for the high-stakes ones. And have a few people you can turn to not for answers, but for questions. People who ask, “Is that really your intuition — or something else?”
Gut feel, when trained and trusted, can provide us with an edge, whether we’re navigating big career moves or life decisions. But only if we recognize what it is — and what it isn’t. Don’t trust your gut blindly — learn to hone it. Sharpen it. Question it. Most importantly, separate it from the swirl of feelings that often shout the loudest.
Laura Huang is the author of You Already Know: The Science of Mastering Your Intuition, due out July 29, and a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Northeastern University.