“Whom should I listen to? My heart or my brain? “

There is always a conflict between intuition and the ‘rational’ mind.

Here’s a mental model I use to get around this 👇

According to Daniel Kahneman, there are two systems that govern our thinking: SYSTEM I and SYSTEM II

SYSTEM I , aka INTUITION, is where rapid processing and thinking happens. It is so fast that we feel everything is happening unconsciously.

On the other hand, SYSTEM II is where thinking happens at a slower pace. Attention to detail, imagining various perspectives and logical thinking happens here.

Fun Fact: BOTH THESE SYSTEMS CAN BE TRAINED.

Yes! You can train your intuition 🙂

However, training SYSTEM I demands a lot of time and repititions.

Remember the first day you took out that car/motorcycle? You were aware of every turn, every small movement that you performed.

Now, after a 100 drives, the only time you wake up to consciousness is when you arrive at the destination (hopefully not 😅)

Ever wondered how those chess players play those rapid moves in games?

It is nothing but their SYSTEM I working for them. They have practiced those moves so many times, they have been in those situations so many times, that they let their INTUITION take the front seat.

You cannot train SYSTEM I before training SYSTEM II.

So whenever it is a decision about a skill that I have practiced multiple times, or situations that I have experienced multiple times, I trust my gut more compared to the ‘rational mind’.

Whenever I come across something new, I take a step back, let my SYSTEM II do the work, and then proceed.