Gut Instinct
Make better decisions by recognising when emotions take over.
Hey, 👋
I hope you’re doing well.
I’m glued to a show on Netflix.
It’s called the Coaches Playbook. Recommended by my pal, Darren.
One of the coaches featured in the show is french tennis maestro, Patrick Mouratoglou.
He’s coached the likes of Serena Williams, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Mouratoglou dreamt of being a tennis pro himself but realised he wasn’t good enough.
Turns out he had another skill developed in his childhood…
Turning weakness into a strength.
Mouratoglou had an interesting upbringing. He was shy and didn’t like folk speaking to him.
He didn’t talk much at school.
But he observed.
Although Mouratoglou didn’t talk to people. But he became good at reading them. This became his superpower.
In 1996 he founded the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France. He started coaching up and coming players.
His knack for reading players became critical.
Because pro tennis is a lonely sport.
With no team on court. Baying crowds and huge pressure. A players mental strength can be the difference between a win and a loss.
The all-seeing coach.
Mouratoglou learnt to spot signs of frustration or demotivation.
He watches. Absorbes information. Seeing what others miss. That insight helps him understand what’s going on in the players mind.
Only then can he help them.
There’s tonnes we can learn from Mouratoglou about working with customers.
One thing he said surprised me.
Mouratoglou comes across as cool and calculating in the documentary.
But years ago – he recounts how one thing got his goat.
He let emotion dictate how he was coaching a player. He make a startling reflection:
“Emotions are not good advisors.”
Removing the emotion from the decision.
Since that incident = he worked hard to separate head and heart.
That’s hard.
Because humans make most of our decisions emotionally.
We do it without realising.
Especially in elite sport when stuff happens at warp speed.
Data from the 2016 Men’s Singles Wimbledon final shows Andy Murray reacting to Milos Ranic’s 147mph serve in 0.577 seconds.
That’s as quick as the blink of an eye. 👁
Think and you miss it.
Just think about Daniel Kahneman’s bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Or Don Norman’s emotional design theory from his book The Design of Everyday Things.
Those books show that most decisions are driven by emotion and instinct.
We act first and think later.
It’s evolutionary as much as it’s neurology.
It’s wired deep into our DNA. We just can’t help ourselves.
We’re wiser after (not before) making decisions.
Neuroscience expert, Jeff Bloomfield says:
“Only after we’ve made our decisions do we justify and rationalize them by seeking the facts, data, and information that will best support them.”
How can you use this knowledge?
Mouratoglou shows we can be aware of when emotions are taking over.
Although this means challenging our instincts, it can be done.
It might mean thinking slow not fast.
But how?
Here’s two exercises you can try:
Complete the sentence:
”I feel like I need to [perceived action]. If I don’t do [perceived action], then the outcome is potentially ______And that makes me feel ______”
For each decision you make, ask yourself four questions:
1. What will happen in the next 30, 60, and 90 days if I take this action
2. How will this action (or inaction) affect our cash flow?
3. How will this action (or inaction) affect our employees?
4. How will this action (or inaction) affect our customers/clients?
