Kishka

Kishka . . . .

Do you have it ?
When was the last time you used it ?

Kishka, is a yiddish expression for " gut instinct ".  Those times when you feel something is just not right.

The deal that is too good to be true. The resume that turns out should have won an Oscar for the amount of fiction it contained.

Often you will have been in a situation and your instinct is telling you something, yet those around you don't see or feel it. You start wondering if you are going nuts and maybe you are out of touch. But because the group think was stronger than your gut instinct, the group won.

And a couple of months down the line your Kishka proved to be correct. It can be strange, when at times you appear to be the one who has the nagging voice and is urging caution. Because you don't want to come across as negative, yet experience is tugging you to say, " this just does not add up "

Kishka is not scientific, yet in a paradox way it is. Mistakes and learning from them, when added up is called experience. It is our past experiences that hold the key to unlocking your gut instinct. It is your interaction with others over the years in both the business and social environment, that allows the feelings to mature and blossom. When you combine your mistakes with your interaction with others over the years, unknown to you, you are building up a super tanker full of Kishka.

Sometimes the feeling can be fleeting, a whisper, a faint message, something just outside of your grasp. Others it comes right up and smacks you in the face. Whatever way it occurs, pay attention, it may just be your saviour. Gut instinct is within us since man was roaming the earth. Stoneage man did not have an app to tell him something was a friend or foe. It was his gut telling him to run or stand. It has remained in our DNA since time began.

However today, the chances of us coming across sabre tooth beasts on our way to work, are slim to zero. Flee or stand is not our default mode any more. Yet the instinct remains. It is activated generally when a persons words and actions don't match. The written word and its message, crunch rather than flow.
This is your first inkling that a thing, person, deal,proposal just does not fit.

Over the years I have learned to acknowledge the feeling [kishka ]. It is mixed with a small dash of benefit of the doubt, but I have learned to remember that the instinct came before anything else. So the next time your gut is sending out warning signals. Take a step back, wait 24 hours before you commit.

You may just be surprised, what happens in those 24 hours.

Colin Myles
Straight talk. Better business.
Author of these books

p.s.
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.