What if your gut is smarter than your brain?


Enneagram Five Newsletter

Issue #010

What if your gut is smarter than your brain?

If you're like most Fives, you’re good at seeing patterns.

You can talk yourself out of most decisions. And when something doesn’t feel quite right, you start collecting data until you find a reason that does.

But what if the discomfort you’re trying to explain is reason enough?

This week, we’re talking about something most Fives can have a hard time trusting: intuition.

That quiet gut-level sense that something’s off, or that something’s right, even if you can’t explain why yet.

It doesn’t come with a bibliography.
It doesn’t wait for you to feel ready.
It doesn’t care how many mental models you’ve built.

But it’s real. And it’s worth listening to.

Before we get into that, though...


Still stuck in your head?

You're not alone. But you're also not moving forward.

That's why I've launched Beyond the Mind.

It's a 6-week group coaching program built for Fives, designed to help you break free from the thought spirals and start actually living. No empty hype. Just focused momentum.

We'll work together to build habits that will help you:

  • Stop thought spirals before they hijack your day
  • Build trust in your body’s signals, not just your mental map
  • Act without needing to feel 100% “ready” first

You don’t need more time to think. You need a plan to move forward and accountability to help you follow through.

That's what Beyond the Mind will give you.

👉 Click here to join
Enrollment closes Sunday, April 20th.


The case for intuition (yes, there's science)

Intuition isn’t magic, it’s rapid-fire pattern recognition (or maybe even something more weird).

Studies show that your brain picks up on subtle cues before you’re consciously aware of them. It stores past experiences, emotional feedback, even nonverbal micro-signals, and uses them to make snap judgments.

Not irrational ones—fast ones.

That sudden feeling of unease when you walk into a room?
The inexplicable yes when someone asks if you’re free next week?

That’s not nonsense. It’s subconscious intelligence.

And if you’ve spent most of your life dismissing those signals, it’s not because you’re broken. It’s because, as Fives, we’re taught to trust what can be verified. We want receipts.

But, here’s the cost:
The more we ignore our intuition, the more we lose access to it.

Why Fives tend to ignore gut instincts

If you’ve ever felt like your intuition is “broken” or “muted,” you’re not the only one. Most Fives don’t trust their gut, not because it’s unreliable, but because it speaks a different language.

Here’s what gets in the way:

  • We confuse intuition with impulse. We think acting on a gut feeling means being reckless or reactive. But intuition doesn’t rush, it nudges.
  • We were never taught to listen to our bodies. Growing up, emotional or physical signals were often overridden by logic, leading to a disconnect from our own internal cues.
  • We fear being wrong without proof. And when you’re wired to avoid embarrassment or incompetence, “I just had a feeling” doesn’t feel defensible.

The irony? Some of your best insights may never come from analysis. They’ll come from integration, when your body, heart, and mind all get a say.

A small experiment: Rebuilding intuitive trust

This week, try this simple practice. It’s low-risk and purely observational:

  1. Pause before every small decision
    It could be what to eat, whether to respond to a message, or where to work today. Before you analyze, check in with your body.
  2. Name the first feeling
    Don’t try to explain it. Just name what you feel: tightness, excitement, aversion, curiosity, etc.
  3. Act on it in one tiny way
    You don’t have to commit to anything. But give your gut some agency. Say yes to the walk, skip the meeting, write the email. See what happens.

The goal isn’t to bypass your brain. It’s to let your body rejoin the conversation.

Over time, you’ll start to notice something weird and wonderful: Some answers come faster when you stop forcing them.

Your turn

Think back to a time when you just knew something.
What did that feel like in your body?
What happened when you listened, or didn’t?

And if you’re up for it, drop a post in the community and tell us about it.

Josiah Goff

Say hi 👋🏻 on Instagram, Threads, or LinkedIn

Whenever you're ready, here are some ways I can help:

Join the Five Community (Free) – Connect with other Fives on the same path. Join here

📘 Get your Personal Growth Playbook (Free) – In just 5 minutes, get a customized plan designed to help you grow as a Five, without feeling like you have to become a different person. Get your playbook

🎓 Master Connection as a Five – Learn practical strategies with The Art of Connection course. Get the course

🧠 Work with Me 1:1 – Personalized coaching to help you break through your biggest challenges. Book a session

110 Somerville Ave., Suite 266, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37405
Unsubscribe · Preferences

Fully Five: A Newsletter for Enneagram Fives

Go from overthinking to fully engaging, without losing your Five edge. Join 580+ Enneagram Fives getting practical, research-based strategies to help you stop retreating and start living — in your inbox for free every Saturday.

Read more from Fully Five: A Newsletter for Enneagram Fives
A man sitting on outdoor steps, smiling broadly. He has short hair and a beard, and he is wearing a blue plaid shirt. The background is softly blurred, suggesting a sunny day.

Enneagram Five Newsletter Issue #014 Why cringe is the bridge to confidence ↓ Recently, I shared with you how everything in me wanted to skip my first kickball game. New people, loud bar, unfamiliar activity, and my nervous system said nope. But, I went anyway. What I didn’t tell you is what happened next. Each week, the same pattern played out: I’d show up, fumble through, and leave feeling a bit awkward and unsure. I’d second-guess how I acted, what I said, whether I fit in at all. And...

A man sitting on outdoor steps, smiling broadly. He has short hair and a beard, and he is wearing a blue plaid shirt. The background is softly blurred, suggesting a sunny day.

Enneagram Five Newsletter Issue #013 The “perfect plan” is a trap ↓ You already know that overthinking keeps you stuck. But if you’re anything like me, even knowing that can become another thing to analyze. We trick ourselves into thinking we need to “figure it all out” before we begin. That once we have a clear plan, once we’ve mapped every step and anticipated every risk, then we’ll feel ready. But what if that moment never comes? The truth about readiness You will never feel 100% ready to...

A man sitting on outdoor steps, smiling broadly. He has short hair and a beard, and he is wearing a blue plaid shirt. The background is softly blurred, suggesting a sunny day.

Enneagram Five Newsletter Issue #012 Why Fives resist help (even when we want it) ↓ I always do my own laundry. My wife offers to help sometimes, but I never let her. Part of it is control—I want things done a certain way. But if I’m honest, it’s more about how accepting help can make me feel: exposed, dependent, vulnerable. Then the other day, my 4-year-old saw the pile of laundry on the bed and asked if he could help. At first I winced, but then he looked up at me with those blue puppy-dog...