Intuition is data. It’s just that human intuition is processed in the ultimate black box algorithm—the human brain—and none of us own the IP on that (at least not yet).
—Joshua Reynolds, columnist for MarketingLand
Sharon is the chief operating officer for a rapidly growing national technology company. She says:
I use intuition all the time. I’m not sure how people survive without it in a fast-paced industry like high tech. I’m constantly in the position of having to make quick decisions when I don’t have all the facts. I would love to have the luxury of taking days or even weeks to make crucial decisions. That’s just not possible.
For me, intuition comes in two forms. One, I believe, is made up of the knowledge that I have in this field. When I need to make a quick decision, I tap a lot of subsconscious information that rises to the surface and enables me to sift through data swiftly and accurately.
My technique is to gather as much data as I can and take some time to simply read it and sit with it. Often the information is contradictory. My research department suggests one thing, sales staff may be indicating yet another direction. I take it all in and then I close my eyes and ask myself questions: “If I make this choice, will it be successful?” Or “Is this the right direction?” I just let myself emotionally feel the answers. The information arrives in a way that I can only describe as a “knowing.” When an answer is the intuitive right one, there’s an odd combination of it feeling correct along with a sense of openness and relief. The wrong answer I experience as tension and heaviness. In addition, I may also hear something like the sound on a game show when the contestent offers the wrong answer!
The second way intuition communicates is through Divine guidance. I’m not a religious person but I have a strong spiritual belief system. This form of intuition comes to me more frequently with people—my staff, my clients, friends, and my family.
In this case, I more often hear the information I need. For example, I recently was having a rather heated conversation with a member of my executive team. We both had strong feelings about the rightness of our respective positions. I have to admit that I’m an experienced debater and will confess that I like to win arguments. This has not always worked to my benefit improving business comunication!
In this conversation I actually heard the words “Sharon, let this go. Sleep on it and meet again tomorrow.” Now, my logical mind did not want to do this! However, I’ve learned to heed these messages. I did as I was told, suggesting to my team member a time to continue the conversation the next morning. When I woke up, darn it, I realized that my team member had a strong point and was probably right. I was able to pick up our conversation the next day, and we resolved things quickly and amicably. When I listen to and act on these auditory intuitions, things work out so much better!
The interesting thing about these auditory messages is that they’re often quite short yet seem packed with information. I frequently meet with the founder of my company. He’s a very demanding guy who expects immediate answers and results. Fortunately, he’s learned to respect my intuition.
During a conversation a few weeks ago, he was insisting we make a change to how we were marketing a certain product. My auditory message lit up with the answer “Wait on this.” I told him I’d look into the situation further and get back to him with a solution in two weeks.
Right around that time, a competitor came out with a similar product that turned out to have a lot of problems. They had to temporarily withdraw it from the market. It made our product look golden in comparison. We gained a lot of positive publicity and no new marketing direction was needed. Heeding that inner voice has helped me with so many varied decisions!
Like Sharon, we’ve all had experiences where our logic tells us one thing and our intuition says another. Some business veterans who have made bad choices and gone against their gut instincts refer to these as the “woulda coulda shoulda” experience. If I would have trusted my intuition, I could have done well and this better thing should have happened.
To help you determine whether a choice you’re making is the best direction to follow, try this. Write several sentences on a notepad about a decision you’re about to make. For the purpose of this exercise, give yourself two options: choice A or choice B.
Imagine yourself making the decision to go with choice A. Close your eyes and ask yourself the following questions. Then repeat the exercise with choice B.
A: Up. Enthusiastic.
B: Down. Depressed.
A: Lightness, openness, flexibility.
B: Stomach or shoulders tighten at the thought of pursuing this choice.
A: Positive images surround the symbolic representation of this decision.
B: I see an X through the decision, or I see some other negative image.
Of course these are just illustrations of the many ways intuition might speak to you on whether you’re about to make a good choice or a bad one. Part of learning to develop your intuition is becoming familiar with the ways in which it communicates to you. You have your own personalized way you receive the information.
In fact, it’s much like learning a foreign language. At first it may be unfamiliar to you, yet, with practice, you begin to notice subtle nuances, shades, and characteristics that allow you to recognize the intuitive messages.
Here’s another way to see if you’re on the right track with a decision you’re about to make. Take the following quick quiz to see how your intuition measures up.
Think of a problem or challenge you’re facing. Write a few paragraphs about it in a journal or your computer.
Now think of one possible course of action. Summarize it into a sentence. “My decision is __________________.”
Hold that decision in your mind as you go through the following checklist, answering yes or no to each question.
______Do you feel excited or energized by this decision?
______Do you feel open to making this change?
______You know you have other choices, but does this one feel right?
______Is this the right time to act on this decision?
______Does this decision feel right in your gut?
______Can you see the successful completion of this decision?
______Close your eyes and think of an image that represents this decision. Did you receive a positive image?
If you answered yes to all seven questions: Your intuition is giving you a clear go-ahead. It’s time to take action!
If you answered no to one question: Try to modify your decision and see if it affects your score in a positive direction.
If you answered no to two questions: Perhaps your decision required a leap of faith that was a little too big. Are there some smaller steps you could take?
If you answered no to three questions: Timing is always important in decision-making. If you didn’t receive a resounding yes! from your intuition, it may not be the right time for you to make a change.
If you answered no to four questions: It’s normal to feel at least a little anxious when something changes in our lives. Is there part of the decision you could adjust that would make you more comfortable?
If you answered no to five or more questions: Stop! Your intuition is telling you this is clearly not a good decision for you.
The problematic part of using intuition is that often you don’t know why you’re being guided toward or away from something until after the fact. A client, Jake, related a story about his plan to buy a second home in California. He knew it was an area that was experiencing a big real estate boom and he wanted to buy while he could still afford the kind of home he and his wife wanted. They worked with a real estate broker and identified the perfect house. It was in a community they liked. It was a short walk to the beach, and some close friends lived nearby.
Everything was perfect except Jake found he kept putting off the decision to say yes and move ahead on the deal. He says:
I’m not usually a procrastinator. I think of myself as a decisive person. Besides that, I had run all the numbers. Everything checked out. It appeared to be a slam-dunk decision.
This was becoming a somewhat serious issue between my wife and me. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t a good decision. I just couldn’t figure out why! It was driving me crazy. Fortunately the decision was taken out of my hands when the broker called and told us the sellers were going to accept an offer from another party.
Several months later, Jake was watching the news. The reporter was describing how the fires were engulfing the community they’d been interested in. High winds were fanning the flames and many of the expensive homes were being destroyed. Camera crews captured a scene of firefighters working to douse flames on a familiar-looking place. “Suddenly,” Jake says, “I realized this was ‘our’ house I was looking at and then it all made sense. I felt awful for the people who owned the place. It could easily have been us. But I also felt thankful I had trusted my gut.”
Jake’s choice was an almost purely intuitive one. However, making a successful decision is usually a combination of the rational/analytical and the intuitive. Sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate the two! Following are a few more ideas to consider when making a decision.
Don’t discount your gut feelings. Combine your critical-thinking abilities with your instincts. Are there other clues your body is giving you about a decision? Tight shoulders, cold hands, and a headache are commonly noted signals that something is “off.”
If appropriate to the decision, pay attention to nonverbal cues of the people involved, such as body language and facial expressions. They’re apt to give you additional insight.
Be wary of relying completely on feelings and emotions when making decisions. Many of the people interviewed for this book noted that they had an “intuitive hit” or idea, but felt most comfortable backing up that inner wisdom with further research, discussion or study. As Apple Computer’s Tim Cook stated in a 2010 commencement speech at Auburn University, “For the most important decisions in your life, trust your intuition, and then work with everything you have to prove it right.
It’s a bit difficult to not be swayed by strong feelings and emotions when making a decision. In the next chapter, I’ll talk about the importance of your self-talk and its relevance to receiving intuitive guidance.
Put Your Intuition to Work Tip
Intuition is like learning a foreign language. At first it may be unfamiliar to you, yet, with practice, you begin to notice subtle nuances, shades, and characteristics that allow you to recognize the intuitive messages.