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Do You use Intuition or Logic to Make Important Decisions?

by Florian84
17 replies
We always come at a point where we have to make important decisions whether it is in our personal lives or whether it is in our business. Some of those decisions can be very easy and made in a short period of time, but some decisions can be very critical and can have a great impact in our lives.

For those type of decisions, should we use our intuition or our logic to make a decision?

If we analyze them closely, our intuitive mind tries to make sense of current realities by comparing them to similar stories from the past. There is no major effort when we act out of our intuitive minds. If something feels right, we just do it. We simply rely in our instincts without necessarily understanding why we are acting in the way we do. The major problem with the intuitive mind is that it is prone to bias, and is heavily influenced by recent events or the influences of those we trust. Our impatience and our need for instant gratification comes from our intuitive responses.

On the other hand, we use our rational mind to reach conclusions by applying the rules of logic. It differs from intuition in that it tries to seek relevant facts in an effort to be objective. However, while using our rational mind can help us make rational and calculative decisions, it can often result in over simplification of information and analysis paralysis.

Do you use your intuitive mind or your logical mind when it comes to making important decisions?
#decisions #important #intuition #logic #make
  • Profile picture of the author James Fame
    Intuition can be very wrongly interpreted.

    I suggest this book: The Invisible Gorilla (not an affiliate link): The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive...The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive...

    James Fame
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    Fire me a pm if you have a question. I build businesses and provide consulting. I do not do finance/money/internet marketing niches. Fitness, self-improvement and various others are welcome.

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  • Profile picture of the author maxfactor
    I usually try to use logic, just because I tend to doubt myself and my intuition. Often, however, it's not possible to use logic, because there are too many factors to consider, not enough time, or insufficient information. Then I rely on intuition and experience.

    In the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, he points to research showing that intuition often leads to better decisions than logic. Especially in judging people, and in areas in which we have a lot of knowledge and experience, we reach decisions very quickly and our initial impression is usually correct. Sometimes though our biases lead us astray.

    Current research suggests using logic for simple decisions with few factors to consider, and intuition for complex and important decisions. I found this article pretty interesting.

    Was Malcolm Gladwell right? Can you trust your intuition?
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    it really depends how much you develop your intuition and learn to use logic and intuition at the same time..

    the best way i have found is cooking without set recipies ..and testing out what flavors go together ..there are other ways ..but you have to merge intuition and logic ..

    but intuiyion works best when based off personal experience ..
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    • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
      I am pretty much with the logicals when it comes to making important decisions.

      But the more I think about it the more I realize decision making turns out to be a relative matter. Some people will rely confidently on intuition and others will rely more on logic and the use of the rational mind.

      Ultimately the decider is the one who was influenced to use the method that was chosen.

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      • Profile picture of the author Plugin Profits
        Not all decisions have anything to do with logic. Most decisions are based on subjective prefrences, desires and biases. There is no logic or rationality about what things you prefer. Who you like, what weather you like, what cities or climate, what career etc. Decisions are always emotional.

        If you are talking about using intuition or logic to try to PREDICT unknowns, then that is different and not about real decisions. Just ways to try to deal with all the unknowns and blind decisions and chance.

        You can't know those things. You can use both logic and intuition at the same time. What most people call intuition is mostly just the logical calculations of their subconscious mind as it has stored and picks up on and calculates so much more information than our conscious awareness can deal with. It's not so much psychic as it is calculating things out of our awareness it has already noticed. It is much smarter and more sophisticated of a computer than conscious...
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        • Profile picture of the author Odahh
          Originally Posted by Plugin Profits View Post

          Not all decisions have anything to do with logic. Most decisions are based on subjective prefrences, desires and biases. There is no logic or rationality about what things you prefer. Who you like, what weather you like, what cities or climate, what career etc. Decisions are always emotional.

          If you are talking about using intuition or logic to try to PREDICT unknowns, then that is different and not about real decisions. Just ways to try to deal with all the unknowns and blind decisions and chance.

          You can't know those things. You can use both logic and intuition at the same time. What most people call intuition is mostly just the logical calculations of their subconscious mind as it has stored and picks up on and calculates so much more information than our conscious awareness can deal with. It's not so much psychic as it is calculating things out of our awareness it has already noticed. It is much smarter and more sophisticated of a computer than conscious...
          i am a mystic and a seer ..in my own way ...when the pope stepped down i predicted that the new pope would come from either argentina or brazil..and a main function of his tenure as pop would be to increase the role of women close to priests or to allow priests to marry and give the priests wive a near equal role in the church ..

          but there are many trend going on in the world right now that the church is well aware of ..so such a prediction was intuition back by logic .

          right now there are many trnds going in in the world around the food supply .. my intuition has been telling me for a few years that we are going to see a collapse of the system do to higher fuel prices and major changes in the weather that force us to grow more food in side .

          within a few years if you want to eat healthy food and afford to eat and feed a family growing a good amount of your own food and raising a small amount of livestock for your own meat ..will be one of the few options as even organic farmers who are reliant on fosile fuel will feel the pinch when gas in the Us hit 6-7 dollars a gallon or more .

          most fosile fuel goes to growing and transporting food..so a doubling of gas prices ..will incease the cost of food.

          look at the trends going on use intuition to get ideas about what is going to happen the see how much logic you can find to back up those ideas ..

          oh and unless you have millions of dollars you are better off building a greenhouse in your yard right now than investing in gold..also buying a 3d printer ..a solar oven and a solar water heater ..or a geothermal exchange system to heat and cool your home ..will most like pay off really soon with a much higher return than gold in the next few years ..
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  • Profile picture of the author JakeRhodes
    I'm driven by logic so that is generally what I use to make decisions.
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  • Profile picture of the author jenn1
    You can use your intuition when making important decisions...if you remember that your gut instinct is usually 100 percent right.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ian george mcrae
      I think using your own wisdom is the way to go.Thinking to much can prevent you from seeing things in a clearer light and can obstruct fresh new thinking or seeing things from a differant perspective.Most new ideas come when you least expect them to like in the shower or walking the dog.A working mind is not a creative mind.
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      • Profile picture of the author jonrpatrick
        I'm reminded of something I heard many years ago in my high school economics class...
        All purchases are emotional.

        I use logic and intuition. A left-brained engineer by training and nature, I want to dig-in and understand something.
        But ultimately, it's getting many opinons and thoughts into a hot-mess in my brain. I let my subconscious churn away, and usually the answer that makes sense AND feels right rises to the surface.
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        • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
          Originally Posted by jonrpatrick View Post

          I'm reminded of something I heard many years ago in my high school economics class...
          All purchases are emotional.
          This might explain why..

          Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them
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        • Profile picture of the author Memetics
          Originally Posted by jonrpatrick View Post

          I'm reminded of something I heard many years ago in my high school economics class...
          All purchases are emotional.
          Not just purchases but all decisions are made on an emotional level.

          If you experience damage to certain parts of the Limbic (emotional) brain, then you can't make any decisions at all. The mind needs to attach emotional valence or salience to a thought before it can be processed by the decision making functions.

          Logical thought is nothing more than post rationalisation after the fact or confabulation to avoid dissonance. Enough logical thought about a belief CAN influence it slightly but it's akin to a drip, drip of water erosion on a rock.

          However...a major emotional incident is like a jackhammer carving a sculpture out of the rock, it takes no prisoners.
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          First we believe.....then we consider.

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  • Profile picture of the author jimmy55419
    nice info.
    thanks for giving such a impressive knowledge.
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    • Profile picture of the author TaniaPA
      I guess for someone like me it's the logical side that's more dominant. There were many times when the heart tells you to do that, but it's the logical side that wins.

      I always thought it was something to do with personality, but some of the replies here are pretty interesting. Like "all decisions are made on an emotional level". Something interesting to read about.
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  • Profile picture of the author trusodesign
    use intuition. proper intuition comes from the idea that logic is honed. hope your logic skills first, then it implies that your intuition will come to be a strong
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  • Profile picture of the author infinitesuccess168
    Personally my intuition has guided me all my life, it is something that needs fine tuning, but once you are confident enough you will learn to know without knowing how you know!
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  • Profile picture of the author hardnova
    I use many years of experience, plus logic, then a modicum of intuition. Then I bounce my decision of a trusted senior partner and If we cant tear the decision apart, I call it. This works well. Every once in a while I do shoot from the hip, just on the small things however.

    -h
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