Know Yourself: Trust Your Instincts

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Have you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite? Unfortunately, the story that follows may make me seem a lot like Napoleon, and the comparison is very likely true.

In high school, I was in FFA. As part of my FFA experience, I joined the Dairy Products judging team. Our contests did not occur like the scene in Napoleon Dynamite (where he sits at a table on a stage, drinks some milk, and says the cow had gotten into an onion patch), but the basic principle of the contest was similar.

Our team would split into different groups and we would rotate through different rooms: milk, cheese, natural/artificial, and a written test. In each room, there would be a number of samples and our role was to determine the identity or defect of each sample.

I judged dairy products for four years and walked away with quite possibly one of the most productive life lessons I have ever gained, but it wasn’t how to tell if milk has gone bad.

I learned to trust my first instinct.

I remember one contest in particular, maybe my Junior year. It was early in the judging season, and the contest was right up my alley because it did not include the written test.

We went through the contest, turned in our scorecards, and our Ag teacher took us back through the contest so we could see how we did. Well, as we went through, I realized I scored a perfect score. I did not miss a single defect, flavor, or texture. I was ecstatic, until the awards ceremony.

I was wrong. I missed one milk defect (still impressive, but not perfect). The confusion came because I second guessed myself and changed my answer on my official scorecard, but not on the one I kept for after the contest.

I learned a very valuable lesson that day: trust my first instinct because it generally will not let me down.

Since that contest, especially in school, I learned to trust my gut, especially on tests and homework. Still today, however, I have worked this into my identity as I set out to accomplish different tasks.

Often times today that first instinct is a nagging feeling that I need to have a tough conversation with someone, or that something needs to change. Sometimes, my first instinct is to simply listen, or to walk away.

So, let me ask you today: do you know yourself? Are you the same way? What have you learned about yourself in your leadership journey? Can you trust your first instinct, or are you better when you deliberate?

2 thoughts on “Know Yourself: Trust Your Instincts”

  1. It is interesting how you hone that instinct over the years. Working in a church over the years you typically have people come by in need of assistance. Early on, I generally fell for every sob story that came through. One day this guy came by, tears & all. He laid out this story that seemed so fantastic that it was plausible. I remember weighing what he said & there were little queues that I didn’t trust. Later I went to assist by paying his motel bill. The owner of the motel stopped me before I paid & said “You know he’s scamming you right? He works his way all over town to all the churches to get another free night.” After that I started to learn to listen to my “gut” & approach those situations with more caution & attention. It has really served me well in counseling students in spiritual need. The Holy Spirit seems to be very gracious in intervening in my weaknesses, when I’m willing to listen. It has help keep me from perpetuating sinful behaviors & really getting to the heart of what is going on in someone’s life.

    1. I agree! I think so much of learning to trust ourselves comes from making mistakes. Actually, if we trusted ourselves without the experience of mistakes and regrets, we would just be arrogant. And you’re right, the Holy Spirit plays a major role in so many situations!

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