3 Ways to Follow Intuition and Make Better Decisions

Are you good at listening to your intuition? For many of us, the answer is “no.” And that's understandable. After all, the ability to follow intuition isn’t usually something we're taught. Instead, we learn to “do the right thing” or “follow common sense.” To make a decision, we use our conscious mind: we make lists of pros and cons, ask someone else for advice or logically assess it by thinking rationally. These are all great tactics, but in the process we often overlook a very powerful tool: our intuition.

What It Means to Follow Intuition

So what is intuition? It’s the ability to understand something outside of our conscious reasoning. It’s an intuitive sense that something is right or wrong, or a gut feeling about a person or situation. It’s about listening to ourselves more in order to make the right choices.

Why It's Important to Listen to Our Inner Voice

At Bold Kindness, intuition, or intuitive listening, is a key element of our culture and leadership philosophy that reflects a kinder, more compassionate way of living and working. By practicing intuitive listening, something amazing happens. We can make better decisions and take smarter risks. We take chances. We step outside of the traditional and expected, and continuously step into new and challenging situations.

Many decisions we face -- whether personal or professional -- do not neatly fall within defined policies and procedures. The world is not black and white. Nobody can make choices for us or determine what we should do. Wisdom is not about having an MBA or a particular type of experience. It’s not about sitting in that classroom and getting that credential. It’s about knowing ourselves and continuously learning every day. It’s about following a gut feeling, stepping into new and challenging situations and putting ourselves out there and taking chances.

Why Intuition Can Feel Uncomfortable -- and Why to Follow It Anyway!

If there are two options and you're not sure which one to pursue, ask yourself: “Which one is the hardest and makes me most uncomfortable?” When we listen to our inner voice and take the more uncomfortable route -- the one that makes us feel most vulnerable -- that's when it's awesome. When we take chances and step outside of our comfort zone to do what we feel in our gut, we tap into our emotional intelligence, into something much more powerful that is far likely to bring us closer to the Bold Kind person we are.

How Mistakes Are an Important Part of the Process

When we intuitively listen to ourselves and make bold changes, sometimes we make mistakes. And that's okay. In fact, it’s more than okay. Mistakes are part of learning. And equally important is learning how to move on from those mistakes. None of us is perfect; mistakes are part of the process of living. They’re to be expected. Too often we view mistakes as failures and let them get the better of us. 

At the end of the day, we're just making a choice. That’s half the battle, isn’t it? If we take them personally and beat ourselves up, we come from a place of negative, self-defeating behavior. Instead, ask yourself: “What can I learn from this experience? How can I help myself grow?” We learn from our mistakes and then we move on.

How Do You Follow Your Intuition?

If following your gut instinct feels new or foreign, here are three tactics you can try:

1. Pay attention to someone’s energy and tap into your inner knowing.

When you're with somebody -- like meeting with someone about a new job -- how do you feel about them? Do you have a sense they're genuine? Do you trust them? This isn't about liking or disliking them. By paying attention to someone's energy and the way we feel when we are with them, we can often best assess if they will be a positive influence in our lives.

2. Watch the physical signals in your body, whether it's an inner voice or gut feeling.

If you're trying to make a decision -- whether it's at work or in your home life -- how do you physically feel? What are your gut feelings? You may notice you have a racing heartbeat, flushed cheeks, sweaty palms or strong emotions when faced with a choice or decision. These bodily reactions can tell you a lot about whether something is right or wrong for you.  

3. Find White Space to discover what your subconscious mind communicates.

In a previous post, we talked about White Space and Balance: the times when we slow down in life and stay in the present moment. White Space and Balance can be about meditating, taking deep breaths or contemplating nature. It can be about sitting in one spot and doing absolutely nothing but pay attention to your gut feelings. White Space can reduce stress and generate inspiration, and it can also help us tap into our intuition. By slowing down, tapping into our subconscious mind, practicing self awareness and asking ourselves, "What is it I need at this moment?" we are tapping into our intuition and following our gut feelings.

Follow Your Intuition: One Gut Feeling at a Time

Developing intuition is key to being our Bold Kind selves because it enables us to learn how to trust ourselves and our decision-making. We gain greater confidence in who we are. 

Like all unconventional skills, intuitive listening is a skill that takes work. And patience. Try it out first with small things. Even a decision about how you want to spend your Saturday can matter. You may "need" to do the laundry but your gut tells you that a good walk will help you practice self care and decompress from a difficult week. You may feel pressured to take an early-morning meeting but your intuition indicates that creating some space for yourself instead will create a more powerful day.

It can be scary to live unconventionally: to step into the void and take a chance, but doing so helps us learn, grow and take our lives and businesses to the next level. Identify a personal or business decision you need to make, and ask yourself, “What is my initial gut reaction telling me to do, even though it feels uncomfortable and may even seem confusing?”

Having the Courage to Follow Our Inner Voice

When it comes down to it, when we follow a gut feeling, we can achieve greater, bolder, more amazing things than by remaining on the expected path. Choice is up to each of us as individuals. It’s very liberating when we stop requiring permission or approval from other people and fully step into our free will. We get to a place where we think, I own my confidence. And that's a powerful place to be.

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