Walking Down Stairs – Part 11
The Danger of the Second Guess
Why Doubt Is a Thief Disguised as Logic
There’s a moment that happens in every decision, every pivot, every honest move:
You feel it.
The internal green light.
The sudden clarity.
The quiet “this is right.”
And then—
you hesitate.
You backtrack.
You intellectualize.
You start looking for external permission.
You let the delay slip in.
And just like that, you’re out of the moment.
Not because you were wrong.
But because you second-guessed yourself into inaction.
Blink: When the First Instinct Was Right
Malcolm Gladwell wrote an entire book on this.
In Blink, he argued that our best decisions are often made in the blink of an eye.
They aren’t guesses. They aren’t random. They’re informed by pattern recognition, experience, gut intelligence—years of subtle input stacked up and ready to go.
But what happens?
We feel it, and then we talk ourselves out of it.
We step over the truth we already knew.
We retreat to a safer, slower place.
We rationalize delay and call it wisdom.
But what it really is—
is fear dressed up as logic.
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What Second Guessing Costs You
It doesn’t just slow you down.
It steals your clarity.
It breeds hesitation.
And worst of all, it teaches your system that you can’t trust yourself.
One moment of doubt turns into a loop:
You know the right thing.
You wait.
You feel guilty for waiting.
You get stuck.
Repeat.
Eventually, you’re living in a world where your first instincts are no longer trusted—and your second guesses have the steering wheel. Should I share this instagram? Of course. Get to know us as people that enjoy life but do focus on being solid at what we do.
Real Life: When Trusting Your Gut Works
There’s a rhythm to action that can’t be faked.
In our business, the best decisions often come fast:
The right client fit.
The house we know is about to go under contract.
The deal structure we feel good about even if it’s not conventional.
And we’ve learned—when we don’t follow that signal, we often pay for it.
But here’s the thing: this isn’t about impulse.
It’s about trained instinct.
It’s not reaction. It’s integration.
Your experience has given you pattern recognition. The body and mind, when aligned, know.
They don’t guess. They remember.
And when you act from that knowing, you move clean.
The Alternative to Second Guessing Is Not Recklessness
It’s presence.
It’s listening to the first answer you already gave yourself.
It’s refusing to betray what you knew before you tried to over-explain it.
Walking down stairs is not overthinking every step.
You just walk.
Because you know.
That’s what real movement feels like. It is to continue down the stairs to the next step and the next knowing you will land. You started the journey and you keep going.
Try This
Think of a decision you made recently that felt right in the moment—but you hesitated, overthought, or reversed. What is hiring someone? Bringing on a new person to help in areas of the business? Was it not working with a client and you knew that was the right choice but you did so anyway and it wore you out? Or worse, was it not making a phone call or sending a message that you know you should have sent but did not because you hesitated thinking “What Will they Think?” You know you are trying to help and be sincerely good at what you do.
Now ask:
What was I afraid of?
What did I already know that I ignored?
What would’ve happened if I just trusted the blink?
Next time, catch the hesitation.
Catch the moment you step out of alignment.
Then move.
Even if you’re not 100% sure.
Because if you’re 80% sure and present—you’re probably exactly where you need to be.
Trust the blink.
Trust the step.
Walk down the stairs.