Would you make a big decision after knowing only 10% of the situation? Maybe not intentionally, but you probably do this more often than you think. Here’s why… 

It’s said we’re consciously aware of 2-10% of what our brain is “up to.” This is the fraction that guides our decision-making—some are routine, and some require more analysis, or at the very least, weighing in on our anticipated pros and cons list. Most of us use emotions somewhat to guide our choices, especially when it comes to our personal lives or business decisions that affect our livelihood—entrepreneurial decisions often affect both.

Yet, most of us don’t utilize the secret power our emotions have to bring clarity to our decisions because we’ve been taught our mind is our greatest asset while emotions are our greatest weakness. I invite you to unlearn this belief, as it may be keeping your vision, and decision-making ability, a bit foggy at best.

Stay with me here… it’s gonna get good!

Emotions are ruled by the other 90-98%. You know, the autonomic, unconscious part of our mind! And yet, many of us stop at the first, or most intense, emotion we feel. You may be familiar with some of the main ones… anger, fear, grief, and sadness. But just like our conscious brain is such a small part of our mind, our initial feelings represent only the same tip of the iceberg when it comes to our emotional awareness.


Why is this important?  

Think of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. We immediately go to the edged pieces. They’re familiar and we’ve been taught this is how you start to form the outside border. But if you don’t complete the puzzle, you never fill in the image. When we only stick with the first or immediate emotion, it’s like making decisions based on seeing only the outline of the puzzle, leaving us guessing about the big picture.

For example, fear of public speaking may not be about lack of confidence at all, but rather feeling unsafe and a fear of misguiding others if we don’t say it “perfectly.”  Making a decision to Just Do It, to overcome confidence fears wouldn’t address the root emotional cause and our anxiety about speaking would continue.

Emotions are feedback, not punishment.

If we only leaned into what we felt underneath it all… this emotional awareness would fill in our gaps. The benefit? Greater clarity in critical decisions because we have more input, or knowledge, to guide us.  Many don’t want to become better acquainted with their emotions because they’ve been told they have to relive their difficult past. This is indeed challenging when you go into the story behind the emotions because you relive it as if it’s happening “to” you… yet again. So, don’t!

Instead, be a third-party observer and identify emotions as if they are another piece of a puzzle. Lean into life and challenges with curiosity. Asking, “what else do I feel?” becomes feedback to see with clarity what your nervous system is ready to experience instead of trying to override it with your will and determination. Why do we need this step? Because the nervous system will win. Not just part of the time, but… Every. Single. Time. This shows up as frustration and eventually burnout.


Becoming aware of where you are truly at—by seeing the full puzzle image instead of the border—allows you to make decisions with greater clarity.  

Seeing the emotional big picture. So often our dreams are bigger than what we’re ready for, but we think pushing through is the answer. We’re told to push past our fears, but that path is always more uncomfortable than understanding the reason behind it. It’s never as obvious as we think.

For example, fear of speaking may not be a confidence issue at all, but your inner programming to stay safe. Your solution to push through and practice confidence to get over your fear of speaking might help somewhat. Or, it may make you feel worse by pushing through when you weren’t ready or before you know the emotional root of that fear.  (And again operating from only seeing the puzzle border to guess your unique and personal puzzle picture.)

The truth is, you need to grow into your dreams and your emotions are your best guide. Would you expect a baby to just get up and walk before crawling? No! And yet as adults, we place this type of expectation on ourselves all the time. It’s self-defeating and yet it’s all most know how to do because it’s how we learned from others. It became a part of your programming, but nobody ever told you that it’s more like a programming virus that’s being passed down.

The 5W’s: Ask the What, When, Where, Who, and Why to expand emotional awareness.

You’ve heard the phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Right? Diving into emotional awareness is a process of going from your thinking to what you really feel (vs. what you want to feel).  I created a self-exploration exercise to help you get started. It’s part of a free download, called “Don’t Overthink” accessible via the QR code below.

The 5W method is a self-awareness exercise that will help you gain greater clarity on what’s right for you, reducing guesswork and frustration by improving your hit/miss ratio on critical decision-making.

If you want help understanding how this can apply more specifically to you, your entrepreneurial goals, and how to start, I’d love a coffee chat! Reach out or message me and we can set up a time for a 20-minute connection via KarenFullerton.com.