Ever have that funny first impression “something is not right?”  Trust that intuition.  If it feels wrong at the very first moment, don’t do it.

It may be a first impression of someone you are meeting for the first time.  It might present itself as a hunch, or twinge of doubt.

It might be an instinct about something you’re about to do, eat, or say.  Follow your instinctual guide, and don’t go forward.

Don’t move on to the second thought.  That may be yourself talking you out of trusting your feelings.  It may be that second thought is tinged with past experiences of people trying to talk you into something you didn’t want to do at first.

For example, if you have a craving for donuts – some sugary white-floured high-fat junk, and your first thought is “that’s not good for me.”  Go with that.  Don’t eat them.  You’ll probably end up regretting it.

Or going for seconds at a buffet.  I can just hear the mental argument, “oh I shouldn’t eat so much, but oh that would taste so great!”  Go with the “shouldn’t.”

It happened with me recently.  I needed our apartment painted, and I just did not have time to do it myself, or much money to pay a professional.  I saw a poster on a lamppost on the street advertising for a painter, so I called the guy.  Sure enough, he came by and my first thought, “this guy is trouble.”  But his price was so cheap, so much lower than my other bids, and the references he’d given were great (of course).  I didn’t follow my first impression.  That painter was a disaster.  He lied over and over.  He lost the key to my apartment and I’ve had to pay for new ones.  He said his bid was for only one coat, and chiseled me for more money for a second coat.

Instead of the sugary, fatty donut – could you have some fruit?  Or if you need sugar energy, take a rest instead?

Instead of seconds at the buffet, could you perhaps just wait 20 minutes, drink some hot tea or water, and then you would feel full with just enough food?  Instead of feeling stuffed and tired from eating too much?

Could I have hired someone a little more expensive, who I had a better first impression of?  Yes.

What’s YOUR experience trusting your first impressions?  Please tell us with a comment post.