Your gut gets smarter the more you check in with it. Notice when it was right and when it was just scared.

Instinct is not a fixed talent, it is a record of everything you have noticed and forgotten noticing. Like anything else it improves with feedback, which means going back afterwards to see whether the hunch was right or whether it was fear in a hunch’s clothes. People who say they have good instincts have usually been quietly keeping score for years.

For a month, write the hunch down before you know the outcome, one line, and the outcome when it arrives. Look for where you are reliably right and where you are reliably jumpy. Then trust it accordingly rather than all at once.