Intuition Is Just Hypotheses

Dylan Field reframes intuition in a way that should calm every anxious parent: "I think intuition is like a hypothesis generator and you're constantly generating these hypotheses... You then take these hypotheses and you put them forward and you debate them and you try to find data to support them or negate them."

Your gut says your kid is being bullied at school. That's not truth - that's a hypothesis. Before you storm into the principal's office, gather some data. Ask questions. Watch for patterns. Your instinct is valuable as a signal, not as a verdict.

The same works in reverse. Your intuition says everything's fine with your teenager. Also a hypothesis. Worth testing occasionally.

Intuition isn't magic. It's your brain pattern-matching against experience. Sometimes it's spot-on. Sometimes it's projecting your own childhood onto your kid. Treat it as a starting point, not an ending point.

Hypothesis first. Data second. Conclusion third.