Meditations on Meaning

Last night, Wilford and I engaged in a heated head-to-head miniature golf battle.

I had been winning by one stroke going into the 18th hole, but Wilford two-putted the hole… and my first putt had rolled almost all the way up the initial treacherous incline… before rolling back down!

So, with everything on the line, I had a choice: I could play it safe and go for the tie by two-putting around the gingerbread house, as Wilford had done, or I could go for the win by hitting the ball over the gingerbread house and, I hoped, getting a hole-in-one!

My conscious mind told me that it was better to go for the tie. “The chances of getting a hole-in-one are slim to none,” it said. “Your back hurts, you have no golfing experience, and your eyes are bleary from that recent 24-hour bout with your computer.”

But my intuition – my unconscious mind – had other ideas. “Hit the ball over the gingerbread house,” it seemed to say. “What are you … a sissy?”

My conscious, rational mind tried to refocus. “Think about it: You suck at this game! If you try to hit the ball over that gingerbread house, there’s no telling where it’ll go. That’s stupidity!!”

But my intuition had invaded my conscious thoughts: “Name one great player who got great by going for the tie?” I said to myself. “Greatness and near impossibility are inextricably linked. If you want to be great… you have to go for the win!”

Still undecided, I then remembered a relevant quote. It came from Tiger Woods after winning yet another tournament. He had said, “I’ve learned to trust the subconscious. My instincts have never lied to me.”

Empowered, I took one last look at the gingerbread house, eyed the ball, raised my miniature golf club to a great height, and swung. The ball ricocheted off the wall of the gingerbread house and into… Wilford’s gonads. “Aghhhh,” he screamed.

As he writhed in pain on the ground, I remembered that intuition – the kind that bypasses conscious thought and enables us to reliably make better decisions is “nothing more and nothing less than recognition,” as famous scientist, Hebert Simon, once said.

Tiger Woods can trust his intuition on the golf course because it has access to a tremendously large unconscious database of knowledge about course contour, wind speed, his Nike club arsenal, and his own unique abilities developed over a lifetime of practice.

But my intuition on the miniature golf course consists of almost no relevant knowledge about course contour, wind speed, my golf club, or my unique abilities (if I have any)… since I rarely play the game. So when compelled me to go over the gingerbread house instead of around it, it couldn’t have possibly been using reliable data… which is why it was such a bad decision.

We all rely on our intuitions on a daily basis… but most of us rarely take the time to consider what constitutes “good” and “bad” intuition. If we can start to better understand our intuition – a topic we talk a lot about in this blog – then we will start to understand when it directs us to make decisions that are likely “good” and when it directs us to make decisions that are likely “bad”.

… And with that understanding, we can even start to program our intuitions to make better decisions… and in doing so, perhaps we can save at least one other miniature golfer being whacked in the gonads by an intuition-driven golf ball.

Unfortunately, it’s too late for Wilford!