gut checks

Trusting your instincts

Gut checks are moments of honest self-assessment, testing whether you have the courage, resolve, or conviction to follow through on something difficult.

The term draws on the gut as the seat of instinct and nerve: The final miles of the marathon were a real gut check.

In sports, a gut check tests mental toughness under pressure.

More broadly, it's any situation forcing you to confront what you truly believe or how committed you really are.

Related

do or die · sink or swim · tough call · evaluation · assessment · instinct · sixth sense · challenges · hunch · intuition · inner voice · decisiveness · litmus test · introspection · soul searching · courage · confrontation · mental toughness

Opposites
decision-making methodology

gut checkslogical analysis

Methodical examination of reasoning

critical thinking · analytical reasoning · scientific method · due diligence · cost-benefit analysis

cognitive effort

gut checksslow thinking

Effortful, analytical cognition

contemplation · rumination

basis for judgment

gut checksstatistical analysis

Mathematical examination of datasets

empirical verification · fact-checking · peer review · audit trails · paper trails

Family

gut, check, guts, checks, gutted, gutting, gutsy, checked, checking

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Top 200,000
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Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G