Smart leaders rely on this soft-skill for their most important decisions. Do you have it?

Listen to leaders like Oprah or Tim Cook speak about their biggest decisions and they’ll say that, ultimately, it came down to intuition.  

And while you might think you’re a more left- brained, analytical type and tapping into intuition isn’t your strong suit, not leveraging that innate power can hold you back in more areas than just smart decision-making. Use it to complement your “outside knowledge” and you’ll excel with problem-solving, creativity and communication- the most important skills needed to thrive in career and life.   

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

1.     It’s information.  Really valuable information that cuts through outer noise.  It not only tells you what you want but also gives you cues about the people you’re communicating with.  And effective communication always comes down to understanding and connecting. 

2.     To adapt quickly, respond wisely and see solutions, requires the ability to sense subtle shifts from people and situations that facts can’t provide. It allows your mind to be open rather than contracted by fear. 

SO, WHY DON’T WE USE IT MORE? OR AT ALL?

1.     Because we spend a lot of time in our head and that’s not where intuition lives. 

It’s in your body not your brain.  You know this, right? Sometimes it’s a tingle in your spine.  A knot in your stomach. Hairs on your neck standing up.  Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you feel or where it’s coming from but… you just know. Like your spidey-sense.

Messages in your body coming up to your brain but our brain isn’t listening.

And why does the body know?  Because your body holds your diary.

It’s not just physical scars that we see or feel.  All experiences, good or bad, are recorded somewhere and inform you. 

Meanwhile, our brain has anywhere from 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day and we’re focused on just managing what’s right in front of us. 

And therein lies the biggest culprit to silencing our powerful intuition: A disconnect from our body.

We’re living up in our heads.  Or other people’s heads.  Or in our phone.  We’ve been told that our intelligence is based on external knowledge and that to succeed we need to be hyper-focused and eternally productive. 

All of this pulls us out of being in our body. How can you get the messages if you’re not even there?    

2.     Intuition is an energy and it’s hard to put your finger on. 

It’s like electricity. You might not be able to see it, but you know it’s there.  

However, stress, tension, ruminating thoughts are also energy.  Locked-up, heavy, closed energy held in your muscles and in your mind.

It can be less subtle and much louder than intuition.

Leaving intuition over there, coffee cup in hand, waiting to talk to you, you can’t hear it because stress and a disconnect to your body, has locked it out.  

HOW TO FIND IT IF YOU’VE MISPLACED YOUR INTUITION

Action Steps To Strengthen or Relocate Your Gut Instinct

1.     First, learn to be in your body. Move. Try mindful movement where the focus is listening to how your body feels in the moment like yoga, dance, or martial arts.  I’m all for sports but usually that requires an opponent whose head you need to get into.  They’re more external and not what you need for this goal. 

Or you can move….intuitively.  Obviously. Flop on the floor and stretch, make shapes, make snow angels.  Whatever comes to mind will be what you need, you just need to listen.  And if you don’t know immediately that’s ok.  It may have been a while since you stepped out of your head so take it easy on yourself. 

2.     Get quiet.  There is a reason top performers have a meditation practice. Meditating is like leaving a loud bar so you can have an actual conversation with your quiet friend (in this case your intuition). Don’t go into over-achiever mode with it.  Stack the deck in your favor and start with five minutes.  Sit quietly, close your eyes, breathe in, breathe out.  And that’s it for now.  When, or if, you want to experiment with other kinds of meditation there is no shortage of options online. 

3.     Cultivate awareness.  Throughout the day, consciously notice being in your body.  Feel your back against the chair.  Stop and take a breath that you feel the space in your lungs and rib cage. Root into your feet.   Awareness of that inner domain brings you back to your home base where you can receive those important messages and ideas.

4.     Keep a record of those messages.  Write down what comes to you after doing any of these practices and it will become a loop that strengthens and encourages more intuition that you can access quicker throughout your day.   

By honing this skill, you’ve just added to your power.  You’ll still have data, experience, preparation but now you also have intuition backing you up. 

It opens the door to more clarity, decisiveness and connection- all essential to moving forward and doing the work you were put here to do.