Introducing The Grand Cat

Find out how The Grand Cat can help you make decisions

Should I move to New York or stay in San Francisco?

Should I quit my job or stay for another year until I fully vest?

Should I have kids or not?

These are some of the questions I hear all the time.

We all wrestle with decisions. I’ve written about the anxiety I felt making big career decisions like leaving venture capital to go start The Grand. I sometimes also struggle with making everyday decisions too, here’s one example:

Last week, I had just finished playing tennis with a friend and she asked me if I wanted to grab dinner. “Do you want hotpot, sushi, or something else?” she asked. I couldn’t make up my mind. We sat in the parking lot and pulled out our phones. I scoured Yelp to see all the options of restaurants that were open and she did the same on Google. We compared reviews and ratings and debated a dozen places. Thirty-minutes passed, the sun went down, and we were both still in the parking lot cold and hungry. Finally, we just decided to get hot pot. It was her initial gut instinct, and it was the right decision. We had a delicious meal together.

In a world full of endless choices it’s easy to be indecisive, even when the decision itself may be minor. When faced with a decision, many of us who have been trained to be analytical thinkers default to making a pro-con list or a decision matrix. We spend hours researching, analyzing, and debating the merits of each choice. What if we took a different approach?

A study published in the National Library of Medicine by brain science researchers show the absence of attentive deliberation, also known as “trusting your gut” was demonstrated to result in decisions with better outcomes than those derived from the use of analytical tools. The reason being analytical tools such as pro con lists reduces decision making to just the facts and doesn’t account for our emotional intuition or our gut response.

We know people around the world struggle with decision making every single day. One of our coaches at The Grand, Seisei Tatebe-Goddu, recently taught our team an easy way to get in touch with your gut and make a decision.

It inspired a fun new tool, I’m excited to share with you today.

Meet The Grand Cat!

Share a decision you’re contemplating with The Grand Cat, and it will provide you with the best answer.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

To celebrate the launch of The Grand Cat, we’re hosting two special workshops led by our legendary coaches. Both events are free, sign up at the links below.

• Tuesday, May 17 at 11:30 PT - Clarity Council with Seisei Tatebe-Goddu featuring a new coin flip framework

• Thursday, May 19 at 9:30 PT - Clarity Council with Rodrigo Lopez featuring a new coin flip framework

ICYMI:

In April, we had a lot to celebrate! The Grand turned three on April 18! We are so grateful to our incredible community for your support and wisdom over the years. Here's to many more! As part of our birthday celebrations, we re-introduced ourselves and the mission of The Grand. Anita and I both experienced a fair share of transitions, and we are excited to provide peer groups and coaching for everyone in similar turning points in their lives and careers.

Words from the community:

Here are some wise words we really connected with, this month:

Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman

The best teachers are not the ones who provide you all the answers. They're the ones who get deeply excited by the questions they cannot answer, the ones who teach how to question and doubt the things you learn.

In gut we trust 💌

Rei