Last night, the University of Florida won its second consecutive NCAA college basketball championship. I am not a particular fan of Florida or their coach, Billy Donovan. However, I did find it very interesting that in order to prepare for the game, Donovan sought out the advice of two of the most successful professional sports coaches, Pat Riley, winning head coach of five NBA Championships and Bill Belichick, winning head coach of 3 Super Bowls. Both of them gave Donovan the exact same advice about how to best prepare for the game. They told him:
“Go with your gut”
I have heard the same advice from some of today’s most successful people including Donald Trump, Oprah, and Steve Jobs. But, what exactly does it mean to “Go with your gut?”
I believe there is a source of inner Intelligence and a Knowingness deep inside of us that all people posses that is capable of guiding us to live a life far greater than we could have ever planned for by relying upon ordinary, logical or rational thinking. It is that particular feeling or inner voice that calls out to us and is available to direct our life. Some people may refer to this as following your intuition, trusting your instincts, or spiritually inclined people may refer to it as paying attention to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. It sounds so simple, to “go with your gut”. But at times, it can often be much more difficult because our “gut” may be calling out to us to make a decision that appears to be foolish to others, seems to have no practical benefit to our current life circumstances, or simply defies “conventional wisdom”. However, in practice, every time that I have “gone with my gut”, the results have been far better than I could have every imagined. This echoes, the words of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., who said,
“You got to trust in something. Call it your gut, life, destiny, karma, whatever. This approach has NEVER let me down.”
I don’t know exactly how this works or where ones “gut instincts” originate. But, I know it works. And I find it very interesting that some of today’s top business leaders, professional coaches, and spiritual teachers are living their life and making critical decisions based upon “going with their gut.”