Do You Trust Your Gut? (...As Often As You Should?)

How has serendipity guided or influenced your career and your life? If you are ready for it, and allow for it, it can be an unbelievable force in your life!

Another way to think about this question: How often do you trust your gut? How much freedom do you give it?

I have found that my gut knows what's best for me long before I do. For almost 30 years, I have experienced anywhere from one to four fairly significant experiences, or changes of direction, per year simply by following my gut. Serendipity has influenced my career, my own life and my family life.

Just a few examples...

• As I launched my own business, I had invested a lot of money into research. As I was deciding how to leverage it, I went to TED and speaker John Perry Barlow said the new business model was to give old knowledge away for free and charge for new knowledge. My gut told me to go for it. So I posted all that expensive R&D on the Web for free. A book agent saw it, and that led to my first of several best-selling books, Simplicity. That give-it-away-for-free decision has created more revenue and personal growth possibilities than I ever could have imagined.

• My family and I were on vacation in Mexico. At a local market, we got talking to artists Salvador and Claudia. We fell in love with them, and invited them to completely rework our planned vacation. It was an amazing experience! We met people, experienced customs, and saw sights we never would have otherwise. (Salvador gave us a series of prints he created about the indigenous people's beliefs, one of which you see here.)

• Whenever I'm asked about my travels, the story I most love to tell is about a spectacular day in Guangzhou, China. I was staying in a five-star hotel, a guest of the Chinese government, and wanted to see the city. The concierge offered a private car and guide. I said "No, give me a map and drop me off five-to-ten miles from here. I'll walk back." Even though I did not speak the language, I met such wonderful people and experienced so much in that one day, it takes hours to retell it all! All because I trusted my gut, my ability to read a map and my New Yorker's street smarts!

• Each book I've written came from a few minute gut-check on something I was truly passionate about. I made the decision to pursue my last two, Disrupt! Think Epic, Be Epic and The Courage Within Us — which consumed over two years of my life — in less than five minutes.

How often do you trust your gut? What's your ROI?

Are you experiencing one, two or more life- or career-influencing moments per year?

If not, maybe it's time to give serendipity a try.

(PS: Yes... There is another side to this story. Sometimes my gut was wrong. Very wrong. Sometimes my mistakes were far worse, far bigger, more harmful to myself and to others, because I followed my gut. Yes, your gut can lead you astray. Yes, you do need to learn when to listen to it — and when not to. Still, in the long-run of my entire life, those mistakes have made me a better person today. So the ROI on those major f***-ups were the life lessons I needed to learn to be that better person today.)