Should you just go with your gut feeling? (English Listening Practice with subtitles)
To go or not go with your gut feeling?
In this video lesson, I've invited Jackie from Ask Jackie to talk to us a little bit about going with your gut feeling,
so going with your intuition. To begin with, you'll listen to a natural conversation between Jackie and me and
listen to us speaking about going with your gut feeling. Now due to the nature of this conversation,
many idioms are being used. Watch the whole video lesson carefully and try to identify the
idioms which come up throughout the natural
conversation. At the end of the video lesson together we will analyze four idioms which came up throughout our
conversation, so that you can understand and use these idioms when speaking in English.
Friends, before we hear from Jackie, I'd love to hear from you. Tell me in the comments below this video:
Have you ever been in a situation when you went with your gut feeling and your gut feeling was right?
Remember to add in as much detail as you can and leave your answers in the comments below this video.
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Okay, back on topic and let's hear from Jackie, and hear about her experience going with her gut feeling.
Jackie, that idiom, gut feeling, can you tell us a little bit about it, going with your feeling?
Sure, okay, so your gut is basically like your belly and
when we have that feeling in our belly, which I also think it kind of connects with our heart in some ways,
it's usually something that it's, it's guiding you,
it's telling you. Like you really want to do something,
but in your head, you can't quite figure out why, you can't.. it doesn't maybe make sense, it's not a practical choice.
So we all have these moments and we're kind of deciding in what I should do
realistically, practically, making the right decisions. Basically, what people tell us we should do,
with the checklist, but then we also have our gut feeling, which is also our
instinct, which is something that we just feel like we should do and we can't quite understand
why. But you said something interesting, like you've got... Okay, so I got either a stomach or part of a stomach,
but you think that it's connected to,
well, to your heart. You have this feeling. Why? I think,
sometimes, well, maybe because they're kind of closer together than where our head is.
Practical reason, the proximity.
But I also think many times when we feel something in our heart,
we also feel it in our in our stomach as well, like I know,
this is a silly example, but for example, when we get really nervous.
I know, my son, every day when he goes to school and we just turn on the street towards his school,
and he loves his school, but he's always like: Oh my belly hurts. I hate that this happens! Because he gets a little bit nervous,
And it's very attached to your feelings, more so than like, your thoughts, so I think our gut
feeling comes from our heart. How we feel,
which is also related to our thoughts as well, because our thoughts affect our feelings,
but they are separate in a lot of ways, so I think our gut, our instinct and our heart are
definitely a little bit more connected than our head in a lot of situations.
But...
Maybe... let's get a little bit philosophical here today.
Let's do it. Have you ever had been in a situation when you decided to go with you gut feeling or
maybe at times in your life when, you know, maybe the logical thing to do was a...
That path, didn't go down that path, you chose to go with your gut feeling.
All the time. And actually, so, my decision to move to Brazil, so I now live in Brazil and from Chicago,
I moved to Brazil eight years ago.
Yeah! Just like you moved to Croatia.
decision that, I guess, in all practical reasons was wrong.
I was trying to sell my apartment, I rented it out,
and I tried to sell it during, like, the worst housing crisis in the US. It was at a time
tenure, which is like job security for teachers.
In, in Chicago I had a great life, I had a great job, a great place to live, I had family, friends, there was no
like, reason to, to leave. It was very comfortable.
But I had this, this pull. I had this feeling, like I just really wanted to do something different.
And I knew that coming to Brazil or South America in general,
it was not going to be an easier life, or a more luxurious life or more lucrative life,
but it was something that I knew I just needed to do and
When I... Listening to my heart, my gut, that's my instinct, it was so strong, that I'm like, I just have to try it.
In worst case scenario, I can go back to Chicago and, and go back to my old life and things like that.
It's... I'm not going to miss out on too much
I've really started listening to my instinct a lot more. When hiring teachers, for example,
I go by the feeling that I get from the teacher, rather than just their
resume. Wait, even in a professional, okay, so.
You do teach, and I... But you go with your gut feeling when you're hiring someone instead of using logic?
Yeah, obviously, there are some checklists, like, they have to speak English.
But, sometimes, it's just a feeling you get from somebody, that you just feel like: Wow, I think this person is a good fit or
they kind of have a good vibe, a good energy. They seem like they're open to, to learning. They're trainable,
stuff like that, which to me is way more important than
their resume or their CV, as you guys would say.
I use my instinct, my gut, obviously my head as well.
But I think once we start listening to our feelings, our instincts...
They're right, they are like always right. If we get a bad feeling about someone,
sometimes we can be wrong, but usually it's kind of a sign, like,
you should be, be careful with this person or be aware in this situation.
First impressions... Oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah, so, I was gonna ask you if you had... If your decision to move to Croatia,
If it was like a realistic one or what, what your experience was?
Actually quite similar to yours, I'm actually surprised listening to you.
Well, yes pretty much, are you just like a replica of me? Living in Brazil?
Actually, I think I'm... I'm more Brazilian than you are Jackie, I have a more Brazilian name.
I moved to Croatia seven, eight years ago now and
it also wasn't logical. When I moved, I were... completed my master's of international business,
I'd done my research, my master's research paper in Daejeon,
and I remember there was about 20 of us from the University.
They were all flying back to Melbourne to defend their final paper, and I was moving to Zagreb, so I had all these suitcases.
And I remember the Dean of the faculty in Daejeon, like, why are you going to Croatia?
You know they're in an economic crisis?
So, Croatia was really hit by the financial crisis back in 2008, and it is still recovering from this financial
crisis, but I also went with my gut feeling, like my parents,
Oh my family's back in Melbourne, didn't have friends.
I remember my father was like: But you have no friends there, or you don't know anybody, like yeah, I'll make friends, yeah I'll meet people.
So yeah, I think when I look back at that, like, where was the logic?
But it was that gut feeling that you were talking about, yeah.
And it was a good decision and even if it didn't last forever, at least for that time
it was pulling you in a direction that you needed to learn certain things or meet certain people at that moment
in order to grow, get out of your comfort zone.
Yeah, well actually, I feel that the...
In my life, when I have actually gone with my gut feeling , that maybe sometimes, it wasn't the best or most logical
decision I've made, but it's been the most
useful in the long term because I've been able to learn, develop, adapt myself,
but also in the long term, learn new skills for... which I hope, will benefit me in the future.
Yeah, and I also think when we
open ourselves a little bit, like how we feel, how we... We, we tend to
learn more because we're kind of looking
for it. If you're just trying to look at the numbers of the
statistics or the day, that we miss out on a lot of little signs that are... They're pointing us in a certain direction,
so when we're kind of trying to feel it out, see how, you know, observe it with a more open minds,
we notice a lot more than if you were just
focusing on like, the data or the checklist, or I need to do this, this, this.
Which is always good, to kind of keep an open mind. You
You mentioned something before about first impressions.
So you used the example of hiring somebody or... So I spoke a little bit about
to Croatia, you spoke about moving to Brazil... Wasn't the most logical thing. We both went with our gut feeling,
Say you have an ideal candidate, you're looking for a teacher at your school.
You have two perfect candidates on paper.
But one left a negative first impression, other one left the fantastic first impression.
Do you think that first impression can be changed because, you know, that person,
you know, they have the right skills, you've seen that they're okay, but first impression is still bugging you.
Yeah, I do think sometimes, you know, people can give a really great first impression.
And then you find out later that they're not so great and vice versa.
But I do think, most of the time, the first impression that we get from people is, is pretty accurate.
Sometimes people can surprise us for the better or for the worse, but I mean I definitely...
You know, met people that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, gave a bad first impression, another expression there, to rub
and then later I found that, wow that, they're
fantastic, they're just kind of shy or introverted, or something like that, and other people...
It's, it can be, you think like, oh they're amazing,
they're so great, and then later you begin to see their true colors and realize like,
there are some things a little bit not so positive about this, this person... That I do think
majority of the time, the first impression, it, it gives us a good
vibe or a bad vibe, and, and usually, it's pretty accurate.
Yeah, when when people ask me:
Oh, Adriana, what is the first impression or how can I leave a good first impression?
Smile. Like, people like happy people, and a smile can really, you know, if I'm having a bad day
I smile at someone and then I know that their day may be better.
But do you have something that you can recommend that somebody does to leave positive first impression?
Yeah, I think especially like if we're talking about, like with interviews. It's always good, you know, to be extra polite.
To smile, be very personable, and one thing that I look for and I know a lot of other people look for,
it's like someone who is trainable.
We don't expect the perfect candidate to walk in the door,
but you want someone that you can train and someone that doesn't necessarily act like:
Oh, I know it all already. Because to me, I have actually met with candidates who have
resumes, and they've got everything that you would need, but when I meet the person,
I think this person's going to be difficult, because they think they know it all already.
And if I want them to do things in a little bit different way,
or if we try to suggest something, it's going to be hard
I think when you are new, we need to be humble with our
experiences and know that we never... I mean the more we learn, the more we realize like, oh my gosh,
there's so much more to learn. I don't know anything.
to learning and willing to learn. I think a willingness to learn is a
very good quality for any type of candidate, because people can learn
anything if they're willing, but if they come in already thinking like I already know everything,
I'm just gonna take over... Unless they're looking for somebody with that
personality, but I think that tends to close a lot of doors for people.
So people shouldn't be a Miss or Mrs. Wait. Sorry Miss or Mr. Know-it-all.
Exactly, exactly. You want to sell yourself.
You definitely want to sell yourself, and I think it's great to actually tell stories, so rather than just saying: Oh,
I'm organized. I'm this, I'm that. You can say, you know, for example, last week
I was working on this project and this happened, because then you kind of paint a picture of yourself.
But then, in a humble way, not in an arrogant way like
I'm the best, you guys need me type of thing.
Some people may disagree with me, but that, that wouldn't work for me personally.
If you struggled to follow the conversation between Jackie and me, make sure to watch the video lesson again and turn on subtitles
so that you can follow the conversation. Let's move on and look at idioms
which came up throughout the natural conversation. The first idiom which came up was: Going with your gut feeling.
Friends, if you go with your gut feeling, it means that you go with your intuition or with your instinct,
so you don't think logically about something,
but you go with feeling in your stomach. An example of this could be:
Bobby's going to go with his gut feeling and ask Mary out on a date. The second idiom which came up in the
conversation was: To go down a path or to go down a road. Friends, if you go down a path, or
a road, it means that you pursue a certain course of action, for example: I'm very happy that Mary stopped smoking,
it's hard turning back. The third idiom which came up in the conversation was: To listen to your heart
Friends, if you listen to your heart it means that you do what you feel is right.
This is similar to going with your gut feeling, because in this situation, if you go with your heart
it means that you follow and trust your instinct. For example:
I listened to my heart and I moved away from the big city and I moved to the seaside. The fourth and final
idiom is: to rub somebody the wrong way. It means that you irritate them.
You could be irritating them because of your presence,
maybe what you do or just how you are as a
person. You can use the idiom to rub somebody the wrong way to describe that maybe you have irritated somebody or
somebody has irritated you. For example: I don't want to hang out with John anymore,
he really rubbed me the wrong way last time we met.
Friends, remember, in order for you to use these idioms when speaking English,
it's very important to be practicing using these idioms.
Try to use these idioms when you speak in English, when you speak in English with friends. Special
thanks to Jackie for taking the time to record and to join us in this lesson. If you haven't heard of Jackie, head over to Ask Jackie
to learn more about Jackie. Friends, remember
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