The first - what this blog will be about

As the title tells you this is an “emo” blog. I’m not saying this to scare away the chauvinists and machos (you’re very welcome to read on – you know and I know you want to), but to clarify from the very beginning what my goal – you might even say mission – is: I want to deliver the term “emotions” from its sticky and cloying reputation. Why? Because we all have them. All the time. In case you haven’t noticed.

And in order to silence those among you who claim to be “100% rational 100% of the time” right away I’m gonna tell you a story I first heard in a psychology lecture a few years ago. A patient of the well-known neuroscientist Antonio Damasio had suffered brain damage and although his intellectual functions remained unimpaired he now was unable to make decisions. Even the most simple everyday life questions turned into unsolvable math mysteries for him. He couldn’t choose a restaurant to go to or decide which movie he wanted to see, just kept arguing the pros and cons – “restaurant x has been rather empty lately which indicates that the food isn’t very good...but it also makes it more likely for us to get a table...on the other hand...” and so on. What had happened? The explanation is simple: His decision-making process had lost its emotional foundation.

We might think that we take decisions based on sound reasoning, but in reality our brain just has us believe so by making up “rational” reasons for our emotional biases – afterwards. Which is pretty smart of Mother Nature; she knows exactly how to keep our fragile egos intact (“Me? Emotional? Never! I solely rely on my intellectual capacities, no matter what. I bought my Porsche for the following objective reasons...”)!

That’s why it didn’t surprise me to learn that the most successful managers, CEOs etc. listen to their gut feeling when they take decisions, even when they’re about multimillion dollar mergers. Because it does not only save time – the unconscious works way faster than any conscious process, especially when it involves any kind of list making! (and we all love to make lists, don’t we) – it is also much more effective. After all our unconscious stores all the experiences we’ve gathered and all the knowledge we’ve accumulated in the course of our life and takes all of that – you might say wisdom – into account when coming to a conclusion. We have a huge ass library at our disposal 24/7 and it automatically selects the books and articles and movies that best fit the problem at hand - let’s use it!

I mean it. The next time you face a difficult situation that requires immediate action – don’t think, just listen to your gut feeling. And if doing that in your job or relationships seems to be a tad too scary, start with something simple like “what’s for dinner”. I promise you won’t regret it. Let me know how it went.