Have you ever had an intuition about a person or
a situation? When the thought came to you, did
you file it away or brush it aside? Later on,
did it prove to be true?
Many brilliant business ideas have been based on
someone’s intuition. When Fred Smith was in college,
he wrote a paper for an economics class about his
idea for an overnight delivery service. He got
a “C” for the paper, but that didn’t bother him.
His gut told him his idea would work, and several
years later he started Federal Express.
It’s believed that some people have more intense
intuition than others. It’s also believed to be
possible to hone your own intuitive skills.
Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor and psychologist,
says that practicing your intuition is important
to honing intuitive skills. “Gut instinct is basically
a form of pattern recognition. The more you practice,
the more patterns you intuitively recognize. List
decisions you’ve made that turned out right (and mistakes,
too). Then reconstruct the thinking patterns. Where
did intuition come in? Was it right or wrong?
Are there patterns? Highly intuitive people often let
themselves be talked out of good ideas.”
For some, their intuition usually revolves around people.
For others, it involves situations. If you’re uncertain
about the accuracy of your gut instinct, write it down
when it occurs to you.
For intuitions about people, write down your first
impression of them. Check for accuracy later. For intuitions
about situations, write those down as well, including the
date. Occasionally review what you’ve written about those
situations, and if something has changed, write that down
with the date. Review these from time to time to see how
accurate your instinct appears to be.
As thoughts come to you, take a few quiet minutes to
think and write. If the thoughts come at a busy time,
jot a few words down (or speak them into a tape recorder)
to write out in more detail later.
A few years ago I attended a local coaches’ group, and the
topic one evening was “our coaching intuition”. The
leader for that meeting told us a few brief facts about
one of his clients: her name, the state where she lives,
and one or two more general facts. Then he asked us to
quietly think about what else was going on in her life.
After a minute, he asked for comments. About four people
spoke up, saying things such as, “There is an illness
in her family that she is dealing with,” and “She really
doesn’t like her job,” and “She’s working a lot of hours,”
and “There is conflict between her and someone close
to her”, and “She doesn’t have enough free time.”
The man who is her coach said that all of those things
were true.
At first I thought, “How did these people know or figure
out all of these things?” As soon at that thought crossed
my mind, a new, intuitive thought took its place:
“She’s bored.” And then the thought continued, “Even
though she has so much going on in her life, she’s bored.
And she’s surprised that she’s bored.” I spoke these words
to her coach, and he agreed that she is quite bored.
A keen intuition is a mark of a good coach. We’re not
the only profession, however, who can greatly use
intuitive skills. Just about any business person can
benefit from a keen intuition. This is a great skill
for anyone to utilize.
Start with the suggestions in this article for practicing
using your intuition. Hone your skill over time. With
some focused attention, you will learn to trust your
gut instinct more and to take action on your instincts
sooner.
© 2006 Borgeson Consulting, Inc.
Glory Borgeson is a business coach and consultant, and the president of
Borgeson Consulting, Inc. She specializes in helping small business owners
(of 500 employees or less) to increase their Entrepreneurial IQ, which
leads to increased profit and decreased stress. Whether an entrepreneur is at the top
of his game like any top athletes you can think of today, or a rookie just
starting his business, Glory works with the entire spectrum of entrepreneur.
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This article was originally published in The Business Express, Borgeson’s
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