LEARNING TO LISTEN TO THAT INNER VOICE

Making sane and balanced decisions in the midst of juggling multiple balls and reeling from the sensory overloads of our smartphones, may often seem like a lost cause. Except when every once in a while, the wings of intuition come fluttering to our side. All of a sudden, we are struck by this jolt of clarity, a knowledge of what we need to do next.

The sixth sense of intuition is watching out for us, and we would be wise to pay attention to it.

Hiring at work

A hiring manager I once knew Kayla, told me that when it comes down to a decision between two equal candidates, she always listens to her intuition. She isn’t superstitious, she just knows her inner self is sense something that is non-verbal, non-tangible to her in this moment. She has never been unhappy with her final choice.

In relationships

Intuition can also work to uncover the negative. When you’ve been with your partner for a long time, you may not notice small changes in behavior right away. My good friend Joyce’s intuition honed in for her. For the first time in the 15 years together, she woke up and facetime-d her husband on his night shift. Catching him off guard, she uncovered a secret affair that had just started.  She wasn’t paranoid, her intuition had started picking up on cues that he wasn’t acting the same, even before her brain had properly identified it.

During conflict

Nancy is a tough fund manager. During a time of conflict, she had to defend her portfolio position and quickly assess who on the team would back her up.  Her intuition was key to making that decision. Intuition can help in those moments when you don’t have time for in-depth analysis. Listening to her gut instinct and enrolling the right people that day, allowed her to overcome the battle powerfully and continue her successful career.

Sitting in traffic

How often when you sit in traffic, do you think about that split-second you had just a few minutes ago before you turned on to the highway. That flash of intuition that made you think “somehow today, I think I should take the local roads” before merging on to the highway only to land up in a pile of traffic. Not listening to your intuition just added two hours to your commute home.

Business decisions

When times are tough, it is even harder to listen to your intuition. Francis looked at her dwindling profit margin and weighed the options of taking the next client, who promised to be very difficult. She finally walked away from the opportunity even though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Two years later she heard of a massive lawsuit, filed by the same client against one of her competitors.  Thank god she was paying attention to her inner voice and saved herself a barrel of trouble.

There is a reason we have our inner voices of sanity – so think about how often you ignore or laugh at your intuition? How about next time you do what you your gut instincts tell you to do?

I promise you’re intuitive, not paranoid.

 

This article was first published on www.womenworking.com/profile/leena-roy/