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Decisive Intuition

Use Your Gut Instincts to Make Smart Business Decisions

Rick Snyder | Career Press © 2019

Invisible Edge CEO Rick Snyder brings a no-nonsense approach to learning to trust yourself
and your intuition. He explains how three types of intuition — “directional, social” and
“informational” – combine to help you make better decisions. He offers exercises and examples
to teach you how to access your inner wisdom. Step away from being busy to learn to use your
“innate intuition” to gain greater insight and jump-start innovation in your firm. Creating mental
space may seem counterintuitive amid projects and deadlines, but it could open a new area of
creativity and enable you to respond instead of react.

Take-Aways

• Using your intuition isn’t mystical; it’s logical.
• Self-created obstacles often bar your way to accessing your inner knowledge.
• Accessing your intuition requires welcoming it.
• Understand when and why your inner critic interferes with your personal growth.
• Your body has answers that your mind doesn’t have.
• Your “innate intuition” can be a valuable mentor.
• Encourage your leaders and teams to develop their own intuitive intelligence.

Summary

Using your intuition isn’t mystical; it’s logical.

As artificial intelligence and algorithms make more decisions in people’s lives and in
organizations, the time has come for people to tap into their intuition as an adjunct to today’s
technical capabilities. Your inner wisdom can temper empirical data with humanity.

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Adaptive leadership – the ability to welcome new modes of operating as situations change – is
necessary in this fast-moving world. Being in tune with your intuition or inner knowledge is
part of developing such leadership. Honing your ability to access your intuition takes time and
effort, but it can fundamentally change the pace and quality of your decisions and your company’s
performance. Combined with critical thinking, your inner wisdom can help you and your business
perform better.

“Intuition is our deeper intelligence that is able to…make decisions from a wiser
resource and extract data faster than the conscious mind can analyze.”

In 2014, the US Navy began a four-year, almost $4 million program to investigate how sailors and
Marines could use intuition to make better decisions in the field. As former SEAL commander
Mark Divine wrote in

The Way of the SEAL, working with your inner mind can unleash “new

levels of awareness and accomplishments.”

“I propose that intuition and critical thinking are not adversaries.”

In a world where your phone, tablet and laptop are always with you, you may have lost the
internal, age-old connection with yourself. Intuition taps into your senses and your body; your
nonconscious mind controls your 95% of your experience. The amount of information your
subconscious mind processes versus your conscious mind is like a “20-lane highway versus a
single dirt track.”

Use three types of intuition to improve your business.

1.

“Directional intuition” or “the Navigator” – This aligns your daily business decisions
with your life goals. You may have experienced this type of intuition when a job offer’s terms
looked wonderful, but you felt the position wasn’t the right move.

2.

“Social intuition” or “the Vibe Detector” – This is like instinct in that it deals with your
ability to read other people’s emotions. Whether consciously or not, you pick up on body
language and the feel of a room. Salespeople often have this skill, which is important for any
trusting relationship.

3.

“Informational intuition” or “the Integrator” – This is akin to the concept in Malcolm
Gladwell’s

Blink. It’s the idea that some people can make valid decisions after quickly analyzing

large amounts of data or other input. This capability comes from being able to pull information
out of the subconscious mind.

“This book is about cultivating the oldest relationship and the oldest source of wisdom we
have: ourselves.”

If you combine all three types, you create a strong bond with yourself and enhance your
knowledge of others and the existing landscape. Say you are in a meeting to finalize a deal. If you
aren’t centered in yourself, your greed may affect future deals or you may shortchange yourself.

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Social intuition can help you gauge the other parties’ trustworthiness, while informational
intuition lets you determine if all aspects of the negotiation and the timing are right for you and
your company.

Self-created obstacles often bar your way to accessing your inner knowledge.

Over the years, you may have given greater weight to social norms and other people’s opinions
than to your own. Although your intuition continually provides insight, society may have
taught you to ignore it. You may be blocking your relationship with yourself and your inner
wisdom. While your rational mind lets you reason logically, it also can inundate you with mental
chatter that blocks your intuition. It can make you think that you are your thoughts, whether
grandiose or belittling. Despite René Descartes, who said, “I think, therefore I am,” you are more
than your thoughts.

“Intuition is our innate intelligence and is distinct from instinct, insight, mindfulness and
something mystical.”

Doubting your “deeper knowledge” can cause you not to trust yourself or your intuition. This can
lead to feeling powerless, since it slices your connection to yourself. The busyness of your life may
leave little time to re-engage with yourself. You may use action to avoid emotional discomfort.
Modern culture supports the idea by viewing busy people as more successful, which “is how
workaholics are born.” Fear and ego can also interfere with your intuition.

Accessing your intuition requires welcoming it.

To access your intuition, be open to it. Let your intuition find you. Make room for it within a busy
day, perhaps by changing your focus. Leave the computer and take a walk. Define an amount of
time for your break, turn off the ringer on your phone and set an alarm for ending the break. Walk
slowly, breathe and be in the moment to slow your thoughts. Relax. Think of a question without
searching for the answer. Steve Jobs famously used this method to explore a problem by walking
barefoot in his neighborhood.

Another exercise involves consciously pausing before answering a question. In business, a
questioner often exudes stress and immediacy. By taking the time to reconnect with yourself, you
avoid being reactive. A few extra moments lets you get balanced, review your inner thoughts and
possibly ask the same question of the individual – which can improve his or her decision-making
skills.

“Most of us have never consciously created a relationship with our intuition, so it seems
more foreign to us than our daily thoughts or other people’s strong opinions.”

Good salespeople know how to be present and use their intuition during a sales call to be open
to the discussion, listen, and to know when to be silent or slow to answer a question. A Harvard

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Business School professor found that 95% of the time a consumer’s unconscious makes the
purchasing decision. Slowing down involves being still, silent and present. Simple relaxation
techniques can help.

Understand when and why your inner critic interferes with your personal growth.

Your inner critic can be certain it knows how events will unfold. Unfortunately, it’s often incorrect.
You can create crippling self-sabotage when it comes to connecting with your intuition. Your
inner critic is rarely satisfied, and its judgments usually indicate you are “never enough” or “too
much.” This makes you reactive and doesn’t allow you to be present. When your inner critic
appears, its forceful energy often feels weighted by guilt or shame. Intuition will feel light and
“drama-free.”

“Doubt can become a deeply embedded poison that feeds our inner critic and knocks us
out of alignment with our inner navigational system, if we let it.”

Psychotherapist and business consultant Mesha Joy Machamer frames the inner critic’s purpose
as “safety and security,” which can affect innovative and personal growth. You may think that
the inner critic is gnawing only at your sense of self, but it’s actually affecting everyone in your
company, Machamer says. It reveals itself when you doubt yourself, micromanage staff, default to
the worst-case scenario or require perfection.

If you don’t take the time to understand your negative behavior, you will repeat it. Constant critical
judgments can affect access to your intuition. Stepping back from that voice gives you room to
hear your intuition. Come to understand your inner critic by following five steps:

1. Determine when the critic manifests and how it sits in your body. Note how it affects your

voice and messages, moods and emotions, behaviors, and body language. What happens when
it takes over?

2. Understand when the inner critic is in charge, and use humor to acknowledge it. Reduce its

control over you by saying aloud, for example, “Oh, there’s my inner critic again!”

3. The inner critic can tell you why it appears at certain times. The answers can help you

understand what it’s protecting you from and why. The critic will often respond with logic and
wisdom.

4. Regain independence from the critic by staying with the uncomfortable feelings that often

accompany its appearance. They may lead you to greater understanding of it and of how
to repair your relationship with it. As a child, you created the critic to keep you safe; now
you might not need the same level of safeguarding.

5. If you can understand why your critic feels at risk, you can use “opposite action steps” to keep

you – versus your critic – in the lead. An example is a leader who says she wants staff feedback,
but then her inner critic causes her to react negatively. Understanding the critic can leave space
for her to fully hear and learn from the feedback.

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Your body has answers that your mind doesn’t have.

Neuroscientists say humans have three brains – that is, neural networks – in the body: in the gut,
the heart and the head, and each has its own “command centers and intelligence.”

“Connecting deeply with oneself in stressful situations is required to go beyond reactivity
and toward resilience and strength.”

Physiologist J. Andrew Armour found in 1991 that the heart contains a “complex intrinsic nervous
system,” as well as the hormones dopamine, norepinephrine and oxytocin. Previously, scientists
believed that only the “head brain” secreted these hormones. The HeartMath Institute found
that the “heart brain” has its own intelligence and is the center of social intuition.

“The subconscious mind processes 20 million environmental stimuli per second versus
40 interpreted by the conscious mind.”

In

The Abdominal and Pelvic Brain, Byron Robinson wrote in 1907 about the “gut brain,” but

medical science largely ignored him. Neurogastroenterologist Michael D. Gershon’s 1999 book,
The Second Brain: Your Gut Has a Mind of Its Own, reintroduced the idea to the modern world.
With upward of 500 million neurons, equal to the number of neurons in a cat’s brain, the human
gut can learn, adapt and form memories.

The head brain in the biggest, most complex neural network in the body, with 86 billion neurons.
It provides “executive control” and handles creativity in the highest expression and function.

When you acknowledge your physical body and its three brains, you can better access your
subconscious and unconscious minds. Cell biologist Bruce Lipton’s research found that while
the conscious mind can process 40 nerve impulses per second, the subconscious can do 40 million
in the same time frame. Learning to hear your subconscious can significantly augment your ability
to find inventive new ways and products. Yet, many people avoid it because it requires them to
feel, to be vulnerable and deal with their defenses.

“The greatest inventions and innovations have happened from those who ask powerful
questions and listen to the responses from their emotions and intuition.”

Unlike other areas of business, marketing has effectively used the subconscious for decades. The
so-called father of spin Edward Bernays agreed with his uncle Sigmund Freud that humans “were
subject to the deep hidden urges of the subconscious mind which can influence the conscious
decisions we make.”

“Critical thinking and analysis are crucial in decision making, yet when you are stuck on
the same problem over and over, it’s time for a fresh approach.”

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Today’s hi-tech companies try to find the moment when an ad will access the subconscious mind
and often use “intuition to leverage today’s technology.”

To access your intuition and subconscious, think of a problem or a decision you need to make.
Create a pros and cons list. Then relax. Check with your body as you look at the list items. Write
down any feelings of tenseness or lightness in your body as you review the items.

Next, check your heart by relaxing further and focusing on it. In the relaxed state, review the two
sides of the problem or decision. Record what you notice – whether or not it makes sense to your
mind. Move from your heart to your gut, and repeat the exercise. Then do the same review while
checking your body as a whole. Write down any sensations. Look at what you’ve written and feel
what your “inner guidance” recommends.

Your “innate intuition” can be a valuable mentor.

Asking a mentor for advice helps you learn and gain insight from someone more experienced.
Asking yourself for guidance can improve your ability to make decisions and to bond with your
directional intuition. It can strengthen your connection with your internal resource of guidance
and wisdom as you learn to trust yourself and your decisions more often.

“If you let your doubts and fears sabotage your progress, you won’t blaze new trails that
your inner guidance is leading you toward.”

To deepen your relationship with your directional intuition, ask for guidance with four elements in
mind:

1. Only the right question will get the right response. The way you phrase a question is important.

For a business issue, ask yourself, “Do you want the future of the company” to go this way or
that? In a relaxed space, explore the different paths. Listen deeply. Heed your body’s response.

2. Uncertainty is the “doorway to possibility.” Being vulnerable and unsure of an answer is

important to releasing your intuitive intelligence.

3. When asking for guidance, let go of any particular result or expectation. Often your intuition

will provide a response that doesn’t initially align with what your rational mind wants.

4. Asking for guidance takes patience. Strengthen your relationship by practicing and being

patient with your own insecurities about trusting your intuition.

“Growth happens on the border of challenge and support.”

Use two exercises to practice asking for guidance. The first is from Synergetic Play Therapy
founder Lisa Dion. Relax. Let strong feelings subside. Consider a pending decision. State it aloud.
Keep relaxing. Observe what your body does. A “red light” or no response will feel tense, while
a “green light” or yes response will feel more open, relaxed and peaceful. As you learn how your
body responds, differentiating between them will be easier. When you receive a negative response,

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explore it to see if it’s your inner critic being fearful on your behalf. Or, you can assign a decision
to each side of a coin. Flip it 10 times. Feel which side you want it to land on. Repeat. This can
help you see where your subconscious stands on this decision since you’re allowing yourself to
recognize how your body is reacting.

Consider four aspects of using your intuition:

1. If fear of moving forward stops you from implementing a decision that your intuition revealed,

you may need more personal development work and practice. “Analysis paralysis” may show
that you aren’t in tune with your overall goal. Take smaller steps to move slowly, but steadily,
toward your goal.

2. Trusting your intuition takes courage. The more data that contradicts your intuition, the more

difficult it can be. Be open to other perspectives and how they may affect your decisions, but
have faith in your “true north.” Start with smaller decisions to build trust in your intuition.

3. While the occasional intuitive decision may be helpful, for the full benefit of intuition, make

using it a way of life.

4. Acting based on your inner guidance is being an adaptive leader. Instead of reacting to a

situation with strong emotions, you can respond calmly.

Encourage your leaders and teams to develop their own intuitive intelligence.

After working to strengthen your intuition, you may want to promote its use within your corporate
culture. Initially, you need to evaluate whether and how people in your company are using their
intuition. Call on them to consider how they’ve used intuition in the past and to see it as a useful
aid to decision making. Help them distinguish the voice of their intuition from that of their inner
critic. As you learn to trust your intuition under pressure and to act on it, you will be able to help
teach others to use their inner wisdom.

About the Author

Invisible Edge CEO and founder

Rick Snyder works with companies worldwide to create teams

and corporate culture that use intuition to improve all aspects of their business. He developed The
Intuitive Engagement Pathway assessment tool.

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