Following Intuition, Not Logic

Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Tilt.

Nothing makes  me acknowledge  my intuition  faster than a primo business deal that everyone  else thinks is great,  but  it  just  doesn’t feel  right  to  me.  People  are shocked when I don’t agree. They expect me to  explain myself, to defend my decisions not to take advantage of the opportunities they give me.

The Long-Awaited Honest-to-God Secret to Being Happy

There was a time when I would have given in just because the idea sounded so good and I liked the person seeking me out. No more. To their shock, no more.

Recently, during a writers’ conference, a very successful businesswoman  and her partner approached me with an idea that  had my enthusiasm bubbling.  Because  the conference was wrapping up and they needed a yes or no within 24 hours, I had to tell them no. Why?  Intuition, and absolutely nothing more that I can put my finger on.

Logically, the deal would have been very advantageous to my little publishing company-if it worked the way they planned-though it would have been a considerable investment of my limited personal time and publisher time and without a direct financial return. The proposed joint venture would bring me lots of potential new customers in a new market,  but not necessarily  customers  who would buy my type of spiritual books.

The woman and her partner, both of whom I believe honestly did have my best interests at heart in inviting me to be part of a deal they were brokering, were extremely upset at me for not jumping at the chance to work with them and a small consortium  of writers and  publishers. They could not believe  I’d say no or have any doubts about this deal.

They felt that my decision not to participate was a slap in  the  face  and  something  was  mumbled  about  “not bothering to do anything else for you” and that I was un- grateful for their help. I was both hurt and  peeved  by their  condescending   attitudes  and  I  know,  without  a doubt, that there won’t be any potential partnerships  in the  future.  Even  if I felt  that  a new  proposed  project would work out wonderfully, they won’t give me another chance because they think I snubbed them.

I wasn’t  ungrateful.  It  just  didn’t  feel  right.  And  I fought not to feel guilty for saying no because  before, I would have relented even if it  didn’t feel right. I would have put their opinions ahead of my intuition.  I’ve had some minor publishing disasters over the past half dozen years   because  I  went  against  my  intuition,  and  I’ve learned from those hard lessons.

Today, I talked to someone  in the consortium about the potentially prosperous  project I turned down. In the past month, it’s  fallen to pieces. Money and time that’s been poured into the project  have  been for naught be- cause one of the earliest participants  has become an obstacle to every vote taken by the consortium.  I also discovered that the potential new customers have shifted to a predominantly   Christian  market-unlikely  to  have brought me more than a handful of sales in exchange for several months of full-time work on my part.

What seemed  logically  the  right  thing  to  do  would have been a time sink and a financial disaster. The intuition to say no seemed really  dumb at the time, but I’m glad I listened to it.


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