The Jeff Pulver Blog: A Time to Listen to Yourself

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September 05, 2008

A Time to Listen to Yourself

When you find yourself searching for answers and/or direction, while it is easy to ask others for advice, sometimes the harder thing to do is look deep inside yourself and act on what your gut says the answer is.

My friend Joe Mazzeo has an expression: “Shut your f**cking Ears, Listen to Yourself!”

And I think he has a point.

I believe that most of the time we know what it is we need to do. We may lack the confidence to go forward and do it, but we know in our gut what is needed to be done. I know, as I’ve been there myself.

And whenever I ask myself a question and I get conflicting answers from my head, my heart and my gut, the times I have gone with my gut have been the times I have been the most successful.

How about you? How often do YOU listen to yourself and taken action? What have YOU learned from this?

Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

Please consider leaving a comment. Share a thought. Share your experience. And feel free to find me on twitter and continue this conversation.

Posted by jeff on September 5, 2008 12:48 PM | Permalink

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I don't know about everyone else, but that's my life goal, to be entirely self motivated. Yes, listen to advice to weigh pros and cons, etc, but never ever ever let anyone pull rank on me to determine my own life. because of my own life I am the one with rank, not some random boob who told me they think my idea is stupid.

Posted by: Zoe Winters at September 7, 2008 07:18 PM

Do something different: pray about it ---- your answer will come with your gut feeling. I always go with my gut, it never fails.

Posted by: Mimi at September 6, 2008 10:47 AM

Jeff, Nice thoughts. This is almost always the way in which I choose to act upon things. You should always beware of the good opinions of others. What I mean by that is "It's ok to ask your friends what they think, but ultimately the decision is yours"

For the last couple of years I have decided to generate for myself a new road map. At first I thought I would lay this map out, point by point, but after some careful contemplation I have come to the notion of making one good decision after another. I do have long term goals. I do have mile markers that I want to hit, but in any quest I think you must do two things:

Listen to your Heart & Enjoy the Experience.

When it comes to making what are perceived to be difficult decisions I always fall back on my Inner Voice. It's very simple. I put out a call to my subconscious and ask the question that I am contemplating. In time I always seem to be delivered the correct answer.

One way I do this in my art is when I am working on a piece inspired by something or someone else. For instance, I know that you love communications, connecting with others, and the thrill of watching things grow and thrive. If I were to make a piece of art based on these characteristics I might tell myself exactly those things and let my inner self work out the details.

I know this might all sound a bit woo woo but for me it works. I will set up my goal in my subconscious...say the artwork, and in the middle of the night, or the middle of a shower, or while driving to work, it will just hit me. I will see a vivid picture of the piece I am gong to create. Sometimes it's just a part or a portion of the piece and I just wait for my gut to give me the rest. When it does, I set out on the physical implementation of the piece.

Learn to listen to your inner self. Be honest with yourself, and make good decisions along the way, be passionate and help others. I think these principals for me are the ones to live by.

Keith Burtis

Posted by: Keith Burtis at September 6, 2008 01:14 AM

Great post - I have taken heart from this series of posts of yours. I do have the same question as the previous commenter, tho - I have never been able to clearly distinguish between my instincts and my impulses, and so following my gut (or instincts) becomes harder since I have been trained (like the vast majority of us, I suspect) to defer gratification and always do the right thing.

Remarkable post, again - one that touches at least one of your readers.

Posted by: Venki Iyer at September 5, 2008 05:27 PM

To quote my favorite movie: "Well, I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains."

Posted by: Will at September 5, 2008 04:22 PM

Hi Jeff,
I really enjoy your posts like this one. For much of my life I have not paid enough attention to my instincts and I can look back now to how that took me down some less-desirable roads, both personally and professionally.

Having recently started a new business, I have relied on my gut instinct more than ever vs. following the status quo. While it hasn't meant I have not made any mistakes, I have generally gone down the right road and the fulfilment of having the confidence to trust in myself has been extremely satisfying.

--A

Posted by: Amrita Chandra at September 5, 2008 03:59 PM

How do you separate your heart from your gut from your head? Logic from impulse?

I've noticed that when confidence is shot--it's harder to tell where the messages are coming from!

But you're right either way.

Instead of Go With G*d, we should make bumper stickers that say Go With Gut. :-)

Posted by: Sandy Kalik at September 5, 2008 03:54 PM

September 05, 2008

A Time to Listen to Yourself

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