(originally published October 19th, 2005)

One thing I’ve never done is made a very good friend, only to lose that friend because something bad has happened. I’m usually a very good evaluator of people, for the most part, and if something is going to happen, I’ve usually figured out that there was that possibility way in advance, and am a little bit wary until that thing happens.

That’s called intuition, and most of the time I listen to my intuition. It’s kept me out of many possibly bad situations that I’ve heard about later on down the line from those who didn’t get the same intuition. I think it’s intuition that leads you to hire either the right person or the wrong person most of the time.

I say it that way because, sometimes, someone seems just too good and you can be fooled by that. I only hired someone who interviewed very well, and seemed perfect for the position, so much so that the other person who interviewed with me thought we’d found the most perfect person in the world. We hadn’t; she was a disaster from day one, when she actually called in sick for the week, and the department didn’t recover until I finally, mercifully, let her go 4 months later.

The issue then was that I was looking for someone specific, and this person said everything I wanted to hear. In general, though, you’re not usually looking for something when either a bad or good feeling about something comes up. If that’s the case, you should always go with your feelings, because your own history is telling you what to do. That’s why we have experiences, so that our inner selves can help us out when we’re not consciously thinking about something.

So, listen to yourself; if you don’t, then you shouldn’t expect anyone else to listen to you either.