There is a moment that comes before overthinking. A fleeting knowing, one with a subtle nudge, a quiet sense of this feels right, or this doesn’t. It arrives quickly and leaves just as fast. Most of us have learned to mistrust that moment. We call it impulsive and emotional. We tell ourselves we should think it through properly. And so we do what we’ve been trained to do. We analyse. We list pros and cons. We ask for opinions. We wait for certainty.

Often, by the time we decide, we are no longer choosing from a clear perspective. We are choosing from exhaustion.

The first thought is rarely random.

We tend to dismiss our first instinct because it doesn’t always arrive with an explanation. It doesn’t come with a spreadsheet, and it doesn’t always sound logical. It doesn’t announce itself confidently but intuition is not guesswork.

It is pattern recognition working quietly in the background. It is your accumulated experience, your observations, your emotional intelligence, and your memory speaking all at once. Long before your conscious mind catches up, your system has already processed the situation.

The first thought is often your most honest one. From a young age, many of us are encouraged to prioritise logic.

Think it through.

Don’t be emotional.

Be rational.

Be objective.

Over time, we internalise the idea that intuition is unreliable, especially in important decisions. This creates a false hierarchy. Logic is seen as mature. Intuition is seen as risky, but in reality, most meaningful decisions require both. Logic helps you evaluate, while intuition helps you orient. Ignoring either creates an imbalance.

What happens when overthinking takes over?

Overthinking rarely leads to better decisions. It usually leads to safer ones. Safer for our reputation, for optics and for avoiding regret later. They might not always be safe for your growth, though. When we overthink, we:

• dilute our original clarity
• seek validation instead of alignment
• postpone discomfort rather than address it
• talk ourselves out of what we already knew

By the time a decision is made, it may be technically sound but emotionally misaligned, and that misalignment has a cost.

Intuition and fear are not the same.

One of the reasons intuition is misunderstood is that it is often confused with fear, but they feel different. Fear is loud. It rushes and catastrophises. Intuition is quiet. It feels steady and doesn’t argue. Fear pushes you away from imagined outcomes. Intuition pulls you toward alignment.

Learning to distinguish between them takes practice, but the distinction is important. Intuition becomes sharper with experience. When you have:

• Seen similar situations before
• Noticed patterns in people
• Learned from past decisions
• Paid attention to how outcomes felt

Your intuition draws from that data. It is not mystical. It is informed. This is why seasoned leaders often “just know” when something is off, even if they can’t articulate it immediately.

They’ve learned to trust the signal before the story forms.

A familiar pattern I’ve noticed

Many people come to clarity twice. Once quickly. Once after a long detour. The first clarity is intuitive.

The second is rational. The second often brings you back to the first. We think we changed our minds.

In truth, we finally listened.

Intuitive decisions feel risky because they require ownership. You can’t easily blame intuition on a process

or hide behind data. You can’t say “this was the obvious choice.” Intuition asks you to trust yourself, and self-trust is uncomfortable when you’ve been conditioned to outsource certainty.

Intuition works best when paired with reflection.

Trusting intuition does not mean acting immediately. It means noticing the first signal and holding it gently. Ask:

• Why did this feel right?
• What is this reaction protecting or guiding me toward?
• What experience is this drawing from?

Reflection doesn’t cancel intuition. It clarifies it. The goal is not speed. It is coherence.

Intuition tends to be most accurate in decisions involving people, values, boundaries, alignment, and timing. These are areas where logic alone struggles. You can analyse numbers endlessly, but you feel misalignment. You can rationalise a situation, but your body knows when something is off. Ignoring that signal rarely leads to peace.

A personal observation

Some of the decisions I’ve regretted most were not impulsive. They were over-reasoned. I knew early on what felt right, but I talked myself out of it. I waited for permission. I chose what looked sensible instead of what felt aligned.

And later, when things unravelled, the realisation was familiar. I had known. I just didn’t listen.

Your first thought is not always correct, but it is often informative.

It tells you:

• Where you stand emotionally
• What you value
• What your system is reacting to

Even when you choose differently, honouring that first signal helps you understand yourself better. Disregarding it entirely creates internal noise.

Building trust in your intuition

Trusting intuition is not about being right every time. It is about being honest with yourself.

You build trust by:

• Noticing patterns after decisions
• Reflecting on how outcomes feel, not just how they look
• Allowing yourself to course-correct
• Choosing alignment over approval

Over time, intuition becomes a steadier guide. In leadership, intuition is often what helps you:

• Sense undercurrents before issues surface
• Read a room beyond what’s said
• Know when to push and when to pause
• Recognise misalignment early

Leaders who ignore intuition often react late. Leaders who respect it respond early.

A quieter definition of wisdom

Wisdom is not always about knowing more. Sometimes, it’s about trusting what you already know. Intuition is part of that wisdom.

Not dramatic.

Not loud.

But deeply human.

The first thought is not something to obey blindly, but it is something to listen to.

Before the noise.

Before the opinions.

Before the explanations.

That quiet knowing has been shaped by everything you’ve lived, noticed, and learned.

And more often than we admit, it is already pointing you in the right direction. The work is not to silence it. The work is to hear it and decide consciously what to do next.