Systems die; instincts remain. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Human beings with their superior intelligence have developed systems to make our work easier, to enhance productivity and to systematize our life. However, it is our basic animal roots that have given us a very primitive but exceptionally effective tool within us called instincts to help us survive and perhaps even make us risk takers and give us the edge in decision making.
Our instincts give us a hint a clue a feeling about the problem or opportunity on hand and may have little or no rational to it. Yet it is based on the individual specific response system which takes into account many myriad facets of our personality and subconsciously directs us to the course of action to be perused. However instincts have their limitations in as much as our persona biases could deeply impact them and some dominant trait in us could override the original primordial gift we are born with. This means that it is not our natural instinct but a tempered instinct that prompts us and this could be more often than not be counter productive as it is influenced by our quirks, prejudices and doses of paranoia or foolhardiness.
Systems are man made and come with its inherent weakness that it uses logic to function. Instincts on the other hand lack logic in the conventional sense but is based on feelings. Systems are excellent tools to rationalize, evaluate, compare and contrast and for volume work to be structured to a pre determined action plan. A system can generate data, simplify complexities, help standardize and maintain control over the pre planned but it fails to account for spurts of enlightenment, influence of unexpected factors, the gut feeling that triggers an instant yes/ no response within us and the ingenuity of the human mind.
Systems need to be triggered, upgraded, modified, changed and often get obsolete, whereas our instincts are spontaneous, omnipresent and relatively accurate. Systems are therefore subordinate to instincts and we must often let our instincts guide us before we let the system collaborate the original hypothesis and prove our instincts right.
Remember “Instinct is the nose of the mind”
Try these:
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Take a pen and paper and list out the following without thinking too much. Write down the first names that come to mind
- – five teachers who come to mind
- – five neighbors who come to mind
- – five colleagues / classmates who come to mind
- – five people of the opposite sex who come to mind
Reflect on why these names came to mind spontaneously. Are all of them people you like and share a comfortable relationship with? Are there people whom you dislike in that list?
This post is courtesy www.actspot.com
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