trust Your Intuition
In celebration of International Women’s History Month I’d like to write about how important it is for women to trust their intuition and take risks in order to get the most out of life. Intuition is generally looked at as a female trait which should be highly embraced in a world that constantly dictates the kinds of people women should be.
Trusting my intuition and taking risks have proven to be two of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my life and have put me on a positive trajectory both professionally and personally. By definition intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning; it is a feeling in your gut that you know to be true. Growing up, I had an innate intuition that I somehow pushed away during college. In business class in college I was taught decisions needed to be analyzed, thoroughly investigated, and backed by data. While all are crucial qualities for life, in and out of work, I believe intuition is equally as important and often ignored. Listening to your heart is often undervalued, especially in business.
I started to understand the power of intuition after reading Blink - the Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. Blink made me realize our brain analyzes patterns and probabilities before our conscious mind has time to catch up. These intuitive hints can be used for good especially when paired with taking risks. Every single career move I’ve made through taking major risks and trusting my gut has proved invaluable. Using these techniques has allowed me to thrive in a business setting and has given me promotions much faster than others. I have also saved countless hours which before I spent over analyzing and being in the cycle of analysis paralysis.
The below are all ways intuition in business can be valuable as described in *Russell Futcher’s article “How to Trust Your Gut to Make Better Decisions.”
• It's a way for you to make fast and effective decisions in unfamiliar, changing, and complex situations.
• You can align your decisions with your sense of purpose and core values.
• Intuitions help you retain energy otherwise spent trying to make decisions consciously.
• You make choices that utilize higher intelligence and deeper wisdom.
• You become more comfortable with trusting yourself intrinsically.
• Executives routinely rely on their intuitions to solve complex problems when logical methods won't do. In fact, the consensus is that the higher up on the corporate ladder you climb, the more you will need well-honed business instincts.
Whether you consider yourself intuitive or not, try trusting your hunches for a few months and document the results. I promise when you hone these skills you will end up making better long term decisions and will have a better sense of peace and inner calmness without regret. A life of less confusion and more action will lead to confidence and success.