How to Leverage Your Intuition for Better Choices

I spend a lot of time thinking about what we need to do that actually make better decisions.

Often I come to the conclusion that we need to define some sort of ideal, the best version of ourselves.

From there we then need to define our values that we believe will nudge our decision-making toward our ideal.

Something like a moral target.

What type of person do I want to be, what values does that person have, and how would he likely act?

It is, however, difficult to define an ideal, and even harder to define some sort of abstract value structure that will move us toward it.

There is an easier route to go.

One that allows the ideal to emerge based on the impact of our actions.

Instead of defining an ideal and then deriving actions from that ideal we take actions and conclude their effects on us over time.

By doing this we can use effect to adjust our actions over time so that they move us toward a better future.

A new way to determine the cost

Selling is all about understanding value as a consequence of experiential gain over time.

Let me explain.

I used to work in a store selling swimwear. During this time and long before I’ve been thinking about how to frame the value of time.

When customers were in the shop I noticed I had a tendency to get them to go for the better option, which was also the more expensive.

The way I did it was by first telling them the difference between the products. Then I asked them about how they would use the product if they bought it.

I then framed the usage of the product in time, usually in the amount of pool sessions. When I did this something seemed to click inside of the customer’s head.

The increased value per pool session by going with the more expensive option paled in comparison to the higher price.

Almost all of them went for the more expensive option.

If they instead decided not to buy I framed the difference in price in drinks out or a dinner.

Is eating out for one dinner more worth it than having a better pair of fins for every single pool session for three years?

For the people I was serving the obvious answer was no.

Framing value by its increase in experiential value over time, creates a more objective framework to determine cost.

We can call this true cost. And, we should do this for anything we want to spend our money on.

If something will improve your quality of life every single day then that something might be worth a lot of money.

This way of viewing value can be applied to anything we value.

As I have said before the only thing we are all fundamentally limited by is time. This makes time extremely valuable.

Then, True cost should be applied to how we spend our time.

Details Disappear, Impact Doesn’t

When you think back to a completely normal day you won’t remember anything in detail.

You could guess what you did but you won’t remember what you ate, what you said, or what show you watched. Almost everything you do today will disappear.

This is not to say that nothing you do matters, it’s the opposite. I want to illustrate the actual impact your daily actions have.

Details will disappear but the effect of what you did will live on as long as you live.

What affects you over time includes,

• Your ability to do what you know you should

• Your physical and mental health

• Your ability to learn something

• Your ability to handle setbacks

• Your perspective

• Your well-being

• Your autonomy

Time is limited for us all which implies that when you do something you are sacrificing everything else you could be doing.

How you spend your time will always have an impact on something that affects you across time.

What you did a week ago, which you don’t remember doing, will affect how you feel the very moment you are reading this.

If you decide what you are doing based on how it affects you over time, the activity miraculously fulfils a specified purpose. And, the purpose is to make you into a happier, healthier and ultimately better human being.

How you feel right now is largely dependent on what you did in the past and not what you are actually doing.

For your well-being, you are the most important aspect.

The impact is more important than the details

The true cost and true benefit stand in relation to how what you do impacts you over time.

What you spend your time or money on will have a lasting effect on you in the future whether you want it to or not.

Accepting this fact puts spending (time/money) into perspective.

Every action you take has its own short-term purpose. It pulls you in a certain direction. It is only when many actions with a similar purpose are taken that we progress.

Multiple actions are taken across time. To determine their effects we need to make use of a true cost/benefit analysis.

How do these actions affect me in the long run?

As we start to question how what we are doing affects our well-being over time, a north star emerges. A place we want to go, a future worth aiming at.

We can then begin to use this north star as a compass to guide our actions toward a better future.

Everything we spend either our money or time on gets cross-examined in relation to our North Star.

Does it move us closer to it or farther away from it?

We have an intuitive sense of what we should do. But, it’s only once we actively start to pursue where this intuition leads us that we can begin to define it.

How to follow your intuition

Let’s start the process of your emerging north star.

(A tiny side note: your north star never becomes crystal clear.)

Step 1 – Identify what you spend your time on and all the details that follow

Remember details are forgotten, impact lives on forever.

What thus should matter is the impact of what you do not the details that in the end are lost to time.

Step 2 – Categorise them into the actual impact they have on you over time

What defines our well-being today is dependent on how what we did yesterday affects us today and not what we actually did.

The impact here is subjectively more important than the facts (details).

You are a subjective creature, don’t forget that.

To improve och feel better over time we need to do things that fill a specified purpose and not something that satisfies a short-term impulse.

Step 3 – Become less invested in your current self and more invested in your potential self

You are not only you today, you are the culmination of what you did, what you do and who you become.

Our current self needs to take care of us today, tomorrow, next week and next year. You should want to do what is best for you in 2 years, 4 years, 16 years and even 64 years.

Paradoxically, you will feel better in the current time the more you identify with yourself in the future.

Step 4 – Constantly remind yourself of who you are serving

Evolution has programmed us to be short-term thinking and self-serving.

It helped us survive and thrive in the past, but, in the current day, it tends to make us unhealthy and unhappy.

In the past, the threat of imminent death aligned our short-term goals with our long-term goal of survival.

What we did in the present was aligned with a future goal.

This is no longer the case. Being short-term focused today leaves us seeking gratification and pleasure.

Nothing but short-term gain for long-term pain.

To combat this we need to actively reprogram us to be future-oriented. We do this by reminding ourselves that what is best for us today is best for us in 10 years.

Human beings are creatures that need to progress to feel good. We need to move toward something better to derive meaning from what we are doing.

Analysing the impact of the actions we take allows us to determine the true cost of those actions.

The impact should be viewed in decades and not days.

By doing this a north star emerges, a better place in the future, an ideal worth aiming at.

Our intuitive sense of what we should be doing no longer sits in the depth of our subconscious but becomes explicit and usable to us.

You in the current time is serving you in the future. Your future is giving your current self a purpose.

As we talked about in last week’s newsletter, humans need to feel in control of the direction of their lives.

If you align your actions with your north star every action you take will help you see that north star clearer.

The goal is not to reach your ideal but to come as close as possible during your short time here on earth.

The best time to start was ten years ago, so you better start today.

So, in the most literal sense, until next Sunday, do what makes your future self proud.