Intuition is a powerful tool and is often underestimated yet successful people use it. It involves trusting and listening to your inner voice…
How your intuition can help you in your career
When you have a decision to make, why not take a moment to listen to your inner voice and see what it is telling you?
Here are examples of where your intuition can help you in your career, as it has done for many successful industry leaders:
- Taking calculated risks
Work out the right high-risk high-reward opportunities to take - Making faster decisions
Making time-appropriate decisions in high-pressure situations, saving valuable time and resources - Reading people
Reading and understanding body language to build strong relationships with clients, colleagues, and investors - Identify trends in the industry
Knowing what’s happening and how to stay ahead of the curve in your industry - Innovating ideas
Identifying gaps and the solutions to set you or your organization apart from the competition - Negotiation
- Reading others’ intentions and emotions to create win-win outcomes
- Solving problems
Knowing the root cause of a problem and coming up with creative answers to solve it - Networking
Identifying the right people to connect with to build the beneficial relationships - Self-reflection
Reflect on own strengths and weaknesses to improve skillsets and grow as a professional or organization
Why intuition is important
Intuition is important in business because logic doesn’t always give all the answers. Facts and figures can take you so far – intuition can set you apart from the competition.
When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.
~ Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam
Being able to make smart decisions intuitively, leads to success.
In Answering the How to ‘Just Know’ What’s Right, the firefighter story gives a good example of how intuition is important in fast decision-making.
Being able to stay calm during chaos allows you a presence of mind necessary to decide on the appropriate action for the best outcome.
developing Intuition for career success
Create space for your intuition to flourish. Take time to be still and quiet, meditate, or engage in other activities that help you connect with your inner self. Understand bias vs professional intuition.
Ready to use your intuition to advance your career? Start by reading this guide!
Intuition can be a powerful tool. Here are three sure ways to develop it:
- Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment and paying attention to your thoughts and feelings. You will start to recognize patterns in your behavior and gain insight. Take time each day to be present and aware of your thoughts and feelings. - Keep an Open Mind
Intuition can come from unexpected sources, so keep an open mind. Be open to new ideas and experiences, and don’t dismiss something just because it’s unfamiliar. - Learn from Experience:
Experience is a great teacher, and by reflecting on past experiences, you can learn to trust your intuition. Reflect on times when you followed your intuition and it led to success, and times when you ignored it and it led to problems.
Why trust intuition for career growth
Conventional schooling teaches us logic and reasoning. It focuses on getting you paid employment in a society run by logic and cause and effect.
While logical reasoning and data analysis are important factors, sometimes our ‘inner knowing’ can provide valuable insights that are difficult to quantify.
I wonder why our schooling does not focus on advancing our intuitive abilities to augment our intelligence. Imagine that?!
Intuition is often described as a feeling or a hunch that comes from within, without the need for external validation.
Intuition in decision-making at work: It can be particularly useful when you’re faced with complex or ambiguous situations that require quick decision-making. Relying solely on data and analysis may not provide a complete picture, and intuition can help fill those gaps.
In our world of tight regulation, rules, and legalities, being governed by logic, we risk losing a precious resource…intuition.
Artificial (rather than human) intelligence takes over, going beyond the logic level of intelligence (see this TED talk: the incredible inventions of intuitive AI).
This new technology uses intuitiveness to augment the logic (programming) and tech companies aim for it to achieve levels far beyond human intelligence.
That is unless we consciously develop and work our own like a muscle in our body.
My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe, there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.
~ Nikola Tesla
Intuitive leadership in the workplace
An intuitive leader tends to adapt to circumstances and be flexible around decisions. They quickly assess situations to choose or realign the way forward.
It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover.
~Henri Poincare, French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science.
The intuitive leadership style relies on emotional intelligence as well as cognitive intelligence. Intuitive leaders tend to connect with their team on a personal level. They also tend to make quick decisions, even in high-stress situations, based on intuitive thinking.
“If all you do is sit in a chair and trust your intuition, you are not exercising much intelligence. But if you take a deep dive into a subject and study numerous possibilities, you are exercising intelligence when your gut instinct tells you what is – and isn’t – important.”
~ Gerd Gigerenzer
