Looking back, I can point to many turning points in my life. I consider these instances to be times of great influence and they carry immense impact on the trajectory of my life. More often than not, these moments have been stark absolutes — either this or that, on or off, zeros or ones — and required me to make active choices about my future and the future of those I love.

Within each of these choices may have been middle ground or ways that avoided absolutes, but I overwhelmingly chose to address these decisions in visceral, almost impulsive ways. Those words — visceral and impulsive — carry negative contexts for me, however. I like to think my decision-making process is based on instinct and rooted in intuition.

Instinct has guided me well over the years. For as long as I can remember, my intuition has been strong and it has rarely lead me astray. I’ve left school, quit jobs, embarked on spontaneous travel, married the love of my life, re-enrolled and finished school, shipped risk-laden and unconventional projects, and followed opportunities I wasn’t completely sure I could win or fulfill. All based on instinct.

This isn’t to say contemplation and deep thought have no place in my personal decisions. It’s quite the opposite, actually. Instinct takes over for me after deep thought and contemplation have brought me to a place of insight. Intuition leads me when that fork in the road appears and the only options are to go one way, or the other. Instantly, I feel it deep down in my guts and surrender to the inherent notion about which way is right. I’ll follow that primal directive every time.

Following instinct over analytics might not be the most appropriate approach from a business perspective, but I think it certainly has its place at the conference room table. Professional intuition is an important element in any workplace environment where innovation is a priority.

Personally though, I’ll stay with what’s historically worked for me. I’ll listen to my instinct as the horizon approaches and the next of life’s intersections draws near.