How To Tap Into Your Intuition In Business And Life!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had an internal compass or notification system that you could rely on to tell you exactly which way to go and when to say yes or no?
Do you wish a stop symbol would flash in your brain just before you are about to do, or agree to, something that isn’t ultimately in your best interests?
If you could properly tap into your intuition, life would be so much easier! You could know for certain the best time to take a holiday, so you’d be guaranteed great weather. Or, more importantly, have no doubt that the one who makes your heart beat faster is worthy of it.
Most of us don’t feel completely confident in our decision-making. Are we prioritising correctly? Juggling appropriately? Are we effectively getting our needs met and meeting the needs of others? If we’re honest, doubting our choices is our dirty little secret.
Well, guess what? If we tap into our intuition, we have that compass and notification system, and it’s more accessible than you think.
You may not have flashing lights or hear words whispered into your ears, but it is now widely accepted that you have access to intuitive guidance designed to help you make choices that will most benefit you and those around you. What’s more, your intuition is always accessible.
Most people only recognise their intuition when they haven’t listened to it. Something undesirable occurs, and you realise you’d had a hunch to choose differently but had ignored it.
Indicators that you aren’t listening to your intuition accurately are
*burnout
*anxiety
*conflict
* things not quite working or coming together
* dissatisfaction and no traction
These are signs that you are not in tune with your intuition in life or business.
WHAT IS INTUITION, AND WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO IT?
Your intuition is connected to the part of you that can access greater knowing and understanding.
The Oxford Dictionary defines intuition as “ the ability to know something by using your feelings rather than considering the facts.”
You don’t have to be a believer in God or a Higher Power to acknowledge your ‘gut’ feelings. Every time you don’t listen, you can see the consequence for yourself in real-time.
Putting intangible energetic impulses into words is complex, and measuring them scientifically even harder. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what you call it or where it comes from; the most significant proof and gift in being able to tap into your intuition is the result you get.
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT INTUITION
As ever more highly successful and influential people attribute their success to following their intuition, scientists have endeavoured to quantify what intuition is and how it works.
In their study, The Heart Math Institute was able to measure and document the astounding finding that the heart responds to information moments before the brain is exposed to it.
While the University of NSW conducted an experiment designed to show whether subliminal exposure to emotional stimuli, e.g. the picture of a puppy or a snake, would impact the accuracy and speed of test subjects’ abilities to perform a task. That of determining which way a snowstorm of dots was moving on a computer screen.
Their study, published in Psychological Science, stated:
“We introduce a technique in which subliminal emotional information is presented to subjects while they make fully conscious sensory decisions…our data shows that non-conscious emotional information can boost accuracy and confidence in concurrent emotion-free decision tasks while also speeding up response times.”
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T FOLLOW YOUR INTUITION?
I noticed that when I didn’t listen to my intuition, the outcome of whatever I was doing would be somehow subpar, and I would feel frustrated because I knew my instinct had warned me. I decided to experiment with being more conscious about following that inner prompt.
To do that, I had to first quiet and slow down what was going on in my mind and how I was moving through my life. If you are too busy, mentally and physically, if there is too much going on, your intuition could be shouting at you with a megaphone, and you wouldn’t notice.
Luckily I had experience with meditation. Once I focused on being more mindful of my intuition daily, I could discern the nudges more clearly.
I would be driving, and though the most direct route might be straight, I would get a feeling that I should go the long way around the block. It wasn’t easy to follow those impulses initially because they often appeared inefficient.
I always say, “ Time is as valuable as money”, so my mind would shriek at the perceived waste of it, but as I was gathering data at that stage and wanted to see what would happen, I followed the feeling every time, without fail. What I discovered was life-changing.
More often than not, something extraordinary would happen when I followed the intuitive impulse. I would run into someone who would give me a valuable piece of information, or I’d see something that later would be significant. Opportunities, coincidences, miracles and moments of unexpected joy would occur.
Every time I followed my intuition, I was rewarded, and when I missed it, which did happen as I was still acclimatising to allowing that part of myself to run the show, I was reminded that it was better to follow it than not.
When you tap into your intuition, it paradoxically allows you to be more efficient because you’re avoiding the car accident, roadwork or red lights or saying no to the client that would cause more problems than their business is worth.
You go to the gym or walk the dog before starting work, even though it’s wasting billable hours because when you don’t, you find your productivity suffers in some unexpected way.
If you follow your intuition, the person with the answer to your problem ends up sitting next to you. If you don’t, they sit next to your competitor.
FAMOUS INTUITIVES
ALBERT EINSTEIN
The most famous intuitive was Albert Einstein, the father of the Theory of Relativity. Michelle and Robert Roost-Bernstein wrote in their article for Psychology Today, “Einstein on Creative Thinking: Music and the Intuitive Art of Scientific Imagination– “For Einstein, insight did not come from logic or mathematics. It came, as it does for artists, from intuition and inspiration.”
While Einstein valued scientific proof, he also valued his intuition and found a way to consolidate the different approaches to world renown and remarkable achievement.
STEVE JOBS
Another successful intellect who publicly championed the value of intuition was Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs. He is quoted as saying:
“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect.”
RICHARD BRANSON
It might surprise you that a billionaire like entrepreneur Richard Branson “relies far more on gut instincts than researching huge amounts of statistics.”
On the Virgin website, in a post he wrote titled Instinct in a world of Analytics, he says, “ I’ve always relied on instinct when it comes to calculating risks, putting trust in people and making important business decisions. There are some things that can’t be summed up in a statistic, and this is when you need to use a bit of intuition.”
You may be thinking, that’s all well and good for these people, but what if you don’t seem to get many feelings that can be ascribed to intuition? How can you tune into or awaken those gut instincts?
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR INTUITION- An exercise
This is a simplified version of an exercise globally recognised, Mindvalley author and Intuitive healer Christie Marie Sheldon teaches.
Imagine two T-shirts hanging in your wardrobe.
One T-shirt is your ‘YES’ T-shirt, and the other is your ‘NO’ one.
Pick up your ‘YES’ T-shirt.
What colour is it?
What material? How does it feel to touch? How big is it? Is it V neck or crew? A tight muscle T or loose and long?
Imagine putting it on when you have a complete visual of what your ‘YES’ T-shirt looks like.
Now, what does your ‘YES’ feel like?
Warm? Relaxed? Comfortable? Happy? Exciting? Light?
Feel into what positive, affirming, definite ‘YES’ energy feels like to you.
Now imagine removing that T and putting on your ‘NO’ one.
How do you feel different than before?
Colder? More serious? Or is there just a deep sense in your belly, a gut sense saying ‘NO’?
Now that you have compared the two feelings, as opposed to experiencing positive and negative thoughts, do you see how differently your ‘yes’ and ‘no’ feel within you?
Tell yourself something you know is true, like “My name is (insert your real name).
Do it again, putting a different name in.
Did you detect your body responding differently to the lie versus the truth?
As with all things, practice will improve your ability to discern when your intuition is guiding you, and then it’s up to you to follow that guidance to see what happens.
You can only learn to trust it by listening to it and letting it lead the way. Not only will you develop your intuition, but you’ll build the fortitude to go against convention, be unswayed by opinion and have the conviction to keep your own counsel.
THE FUTURE OF INTUITIVE BUSINESS
Entrepreneurs and freelancers tend to run fast-paced businesses in their efforts to survive and thrive. Despite common knowledge being that a job done quickly does not necessarily mean it’s done best.
As the digital space hurries to keep up with itself, hectic workplaces and paces are considered the norm.
If you accurately assess your projects and tap into your intuition, your business should feel calm and positively productive to work within. My intuition is that your business will grow exponentially faster and smoother if you do.
If you would like to know more about understanding the ways we can receive guidance be sure to check out my other posts 11.11 Why You Are Seeing It And What It Means For You and 6 Signs From the Universe and How to Decipher Them
