Is intuition important in business?
Can you rely on it or is it an unreliable distraction with the best way forward being a left-brained, logical, and data driven approach to everything?
Were you ever taught about intuition?
I do not ever recall being taught about intuition when I was young. Can you?
In fact, I think it was the opposite. Our education system mostly teaches you to approach everything in a left-brained, logical, and linear way. We were told to ‘show our workings’ and be methodical.
This seems to make perfect sense, right?
And it carries on into adulthood. As a financial professional your training and qualification process has also followed this approach. For instance, the financial planning process is taught as a logical, sequential, six-step process.
Where in any of the course materials does intuition, gut feeling, or inner knowing come into it?
If you can’t see it, touch it, measure it, or prove it then it has no place.
We live in a world that overthinks
People try to think of everything that could or might happen and use this as a strategy to try and control and predict what happens.
Yet the biggest downside to a left-brained approach to life is that it tends to create chronic over-thinking in people.
Albert Einstein famously pointed out:
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Why does the gift of intuition matter?
Einstein is one of the greatest scientists of all time. Yet he had a deep respect in the value of intuition.
He regarded imagination as more important than knowledge. One of the things that made him so extraordinary was that he was willing to look beyond the linear domain.
We can do this too.
Whilst you can still use the intellect when appropriate you can also notice when you tend to overthink and let go.
Instead, in a quieter mind listen out for what your intuition is telling you. My experience is that the more willing we are to do this, the more ease and flow we will experience in our lives. Coincidences and things falling into place seem to happen a lot more often.
Try this simple experiment
When you catch yourself over-thinking something, allow your mind to settle. Listen out for what your intuition is trying to tell you and be curious about where it takes you.
PS. If this resonates with you check out this article on the power of the present moment. Click here.
