Chronic decision fatigue is a common phenomenon that affects many leaders, causing them to feel overwhelmed and uncertain about their choices. However, the root cause of this issue is not a lack of time or too many options, but rather a loss of trust in one’s inner knowing.

Research suggests that there are two ways of knowing: one that analyzes from the outside, and one that knows directly and embodies experience. The latter is often referred to as embodied knowing, which is rooted in the body’s direct experience and sensory perception.

Embodied knowing is not a new concept, but it has been largely overlooked in modern times. The philosopher Merleau-Ponty (2012) argued that perception is not an operation the mind performs upon experience, but rather something the flesh already lives. This means that our bodies have a deep understanding of the world around us, which is often more accurate than our rational thinking.

The concept of embodied knowing is closely tied to the idea of non-human agency, which suggests that other beings and objects in the world have agency and can teach us about ourselves. In this sense, the aubergine in the garden can be seen as a teacher, providing a direct and intuitive understanding of when it is ripe and ready to be picked.

So, how can leaders learn to trust themselves and their embodied knowing? The key is to find their own aubergine, a place where their body knows without hesitation. This can be a domain such as gardening, cooking, or even a hobby. By studying the signature of this domain, leaders can develop a baseline for knowing that they can rely on in times of uncertainty.

To build this baseline, leaders can try the following exercise: find their aubergine, close their eyes, and let their body report whether the decision is ripe or not yet. This can be done repeatedly, allowing leaders to calibrate their embodied knowing and develop a library of their own accurate decisions.

By trusting their embodied knowing, leaders can regain their agency and make decisions with confidence. This is not a new way of knowing, but rather a return to the oldest root of knowledge, which is rooted in the body’s direct experience and sensory perception.