Blink - Trust your instinct judgment

I am reading the last two sections of the book 'Blink', which is written by Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author of his another book 'The Tipping Point'.

This book points out an important message - people sometimes make judgment by their 'snap' feeling, we sense something but actually we cannot tell the why we can sense it, and in some case the judgment could be absolutely correct. People always call this powerful ability as the 'sixth sense'. Most women possess such power to 'feel' if their boyfriends/husbands have done something 'naughty'.

instinct feeling' is not ESP. In fact, our brain can make analysis by several small layers of information and provides a decision within a second. As we cannot even know that the brain has operated such a complicated process when the 'blink' feeling comes out, we think such intuitive feeling is mysterious. Just take a woman's instinct feeling to her spouse as an example, she can spot out her husband has mis-behaved by even one glance. Actually within that short eye contact her brain has already sensored his facial expression, body language and the something weird in his outfits within a snap shot, and realizes that he flirted with a girl in the pub that night.

Of course, we should not totally trust the instinct feeling all the time, because it could be blinded or deluded sometimes, especially when we are not experienced enough in some aspects.

This book also mentions the weaknesses of market research. Market research sometimes ignores the power of snap judgment in many consumer behaviors. Of course, this profession cannot be always wrong, but to be an excellent market researcher, you could be very familiar with the industry that you are doing the research, which enable you to spot out those blind points and provide the insight which beyonds the plain figures and charts.

From my experience, the best time to use your 'blink' power is when you are deciding if a person is great to be your lover. Of course, you should have certain exposure to the opposite sex... or the same sex if it is your case.