Trust your gut. NOT! The probability is very high that a decision made on instinct will be wrong. Why? Our instincts evolved as we did—over millennia—and we currently find ourselves in a strange land, with which our instincts are ill equipped to deal. We must make our way pragmatically. We must attempt to be in the objective realm for decision-making purposes, not the subjective. We must give more weight to objective, measurable phenomena than to our feelings, beliefs, and opinions in order to succeed effectively. Operating subjectively is akin to driving in the dark with the lights off, while wearing a blindfold. Does that make any sense at all?

Any and all ideas must be tested to prove their validity, no matter how strongly we believe in ourselves or our course of action. The grass always looks greener (and more desirable) over there … until you try grazing over there and suddenly discover that the real reason it’s so green is because it’s artificial.

You thought grazing on that green grass would be so much easier and so much more satisfying.

A quick test could have dis-proven your belief and torpedoed your desire to move the whole herd over to those greener pastures. Instincts and guts are great for identifying things that you may want to objectively evaluate, but not so good for making decisions in the strange land we live in today.

You are warriors. You know you must use your objective tools before committing to your path. True warriors know before they go. They test and retest. They don’t just launch themselves into the fray on a hunch or on a gut instinct. No, true warriors get the odds in their favour by reading the signs and discerning the truth. You are warriors and you will determine the winning way. So it is written.