What If You Were Intuitive?
You Already Are Intuitive
Think back to a time when you had a hunch about something. That
was intuition. It is nothing more than your mind using more than
what you are consciously aware of. But how do you trust your
intuition? How can you improve it and use it? First, understand
what it is.
Gary Kasparov can play and beat the best chess computer. How is
this possible when the computer can calculate positions many
moves further ahead than he can. It is because of his intuitive
grasp of the game. Experience allows him to combine analysis
with a "sense" of which move is best.
Intuition also works as a warning device. My wife and I both
felt we shoudn't get on that bus in Cuenca, Ecuador. Psychic?
Not at all. We knew crowded busses were prime locations for
pickpockets. We saw the drunk man bumping into people. We didn't
think about these things consciously, but they registered in our
minds, and warned us. Unfortunately, we ignored our intuition,
and I was robbed.
Of course, a strong hunch can be for irrelevant reasons too. If
you were hit by a blue taxi as a child, you might have
"intuitive" hunches not to get into blue taxis for the rest of
your life. So how do you know when to trust your intuition?
Watch And Question Your Intuition
Start by watching it and questioning it. If I had asked myself
why I felt bad about that bus, it may have occurred to me, "Oh
yeah, crowded busses are a bad idea. I know that." If your look
at your strong feeling about that taxi, you might say, "Oh, it's
just my fear of blue taxis." Get in the habit of paying
attention to your intuitive feelings.
In which areas does your intuition work best? Are you always
right about your intuitive stock picks? If so, give a little
credence to them. If your hunches about people are always wrong,
don't follow them. Just pay attention more, and you'll develope
an intuition about your intuition.
Intuition Doesn't Arise In A Vacuum
Recognise that your skill, knowledge and experience determine
the potential effectiveness of your intuition. A weak chess
player will never intuitively beat that computer. So learn
enough about a subject, before you expect any good hunches about
it - or before you trust the hunches. Remember the programmer's
maxim: garbage in - garbage out. When enough information is in
your mind, it will go to work for you with or without your
conscious participation, so feed it well.
Watch for your intuition and you'll have hunches and ideas more
often. I bought a conversion van, and now I see them all over.
Have you had a similar experience? The same process will happen
if you watch for your intuition - you'll start to see more of
it.
Develope Your Intuition In Three Steps
1. Look for it to encourage it.
2. Watch it to make it more trustworthy.
3. Give it good information to work with.
Do these simple things, and you'll have better intuition more
often. Doesn't your intuition tell you this is true? It will.