My girlfriend and I each eat one banana every day. We grocery shop once per week. That means we need to buy 14 bananas every Sunday.
At first this felt a little ridiculous. I would approach the banana shelf and pick out a number that “felt” like a lot. I would maybe walk away with 10 bananas, thinking I had a large quantity.
Then before the end of the week, we would run out of bananas.
Eventually I stopped buying bananas off of what “feels” right, and bought bananas based on the rational pattern of consumption. It’s completely logical that 1 banana/person/day * 2 people * 7 days = 14 bananas, but for whatever reason, it took me time to start using my logical brain to make the decision.
While the logical brain was the solution to the banana problem, when selling a product or a story, it’s often the emotion and the stories that wins people over. Especially in a one-on-one context, you need to adapt to the situation and make subtle decisions based on feel rather than logic.
Neither mode of thinking is right all the time. Thus it’s crucial to know when the logical, rational brain should be used, and when to make decisions based on feel. Make decisions, flex the muscle, reflect, and be better next time.