Intuition - 8 Things I Learned As A Business Executive Developing My Intuition.

The following are a few things I have learned about intuition while researching the subject over the last decade and working as an executive and advisor to high growth companies. During this period I developed a measurable observable method to access intuition first to help myself and now those like me and others to more fully utilize their potential and make better decisions for themselves, their organizations and the planet. You can learn more about that journey in my book, “Exceptional Power in Business: Intuition Allied With Reason Using Zero Point Decision Making®”.

Making optimal timely decisions in this increasingly challenging world is getting more and more difficult. Intuition is becoming more important than ever in this context and soon will be a required business skill. In fact, I just read a job posting for a CFO position which required the applicant to be intuitive….how things are changing! But to integrate intuition safely and practically into business processes one needs to at least first begin to understand it.

Here are eight key things I learned about intuition…all of which have major implications in learning and applying it reliably…which according to giants in business like Steve Jobs and Oprah, scientists like Albert Einstein and Jane Goodall and creatives like Carlos Santana and Kate Winslet is pretty important.

1. “My intuition”, “your intuition”. As Dr. Spock of Star Trek would say, these terms as well as “my Truth”, and “your truth” are not logical. Saying “my truth” or “my intuition” are ways of rationalizing and giving weight to differences of opinion but ironically it is not necessarily true. It’s a little like saying my Earth — your Earth — it’s the same Earth, it’s not different and it belongs to no one. It’s the same Earth to both although it can be perceived differently by each it does not change the Truth of it. Contrary to kitschy sayings, outside the realms of quantum physics, perception is not truth. In our physical world, in any single specific enough context there is only one answer for example, 2+1 = 3, the fact that you are reading these words right now or that there are a certain number of people in the world pretending to be off-sick from work right now. If the question is so general for there to be more than one answer then it’s not differences in intuition but rather differences in the question, whereby the question is unclear enough to provide for multiple interpretations and answers. Vague questions include words like “should” or “supposed to”. The way that people are using the phrase “my truth” or “my intuition” is more correctly captured by phrases like “my perception”, “my belief”, “my opinion” or “my mind’s best guess”. To me the idea of mis-defining Truth is ironic and I believe dangerous. Making intuition and truth amorphous allows manipulators greater power. Truth has become corrupted by marketers to manipulate people, people to twist so they can avoid conflict and others to casually redefine because it serves their egos.

2. “Is intuition reliable?” Many articles and books discuss whether intuition is reliable and when it is or isn’t. This is really an extension of the first point above — How can intuition be unreliable if intuition is defined as “knowing”? In this physical world, something is either known or not – it’s binary. If it’s not a “knowing” then it’s something else – an opinion, belief or guess of the mind. Part of the problem is that intuition is often equated with feelings (more on this in #5). It’s not that intuition is unreliable it’s our ability to access it and discern between it and the ego that is unreliable. This difference has major implications in learning and applying it. And yes, there are ways to access intuition reliably.

3. Where does intuition come from? For practical purposes it doesn’t really matter. Where your mind believes it comes from reflects your world view and regardless of your world view, as long as you can stay neutral you can still access intuitive information. Some people believe it comes only from the subconscious mind based on personal experiences – I call this Level 1 Intuition. Some, like Carl Jung, believe that intuitive information also comes from the collective unconscious based on our interconnectedness — I call this Level 2 Intuition. The paradox is that the only way to know where it comes from is to use your intuition and this is the issue — in some cases even quite intuitive people cannot access their intuition because of their preconceived judgments, positions, hypotheses and biases. The same methods of accessing intuition work for both Level 1 and Level 2 intuition — the key is to have your mind clear and be neutral to the outcome / answer.

4. Can people tell the truth using their conscious mind? If you believe they can then its further evidence that they can’t. The mind can only guess and if one has a smart mind it can use cues from body language, tone of voice, eye movements etc. to make better guesses, but lie detectors wouldn’t exist if the mind could know…nor would the word “deception”. For that matter lie detectors wouldn’t exist if there were “my truth” and your truth”. There is more evidence than is possible to show that illustrates how the mind cannot know the truth, but here are just a few for kicks:

Bernie Madoff,
Enron,
sub-prime mortgages,
the 21 month US presidential election process (from announcements to election),
dating,
The Price is Right,
email scams,
The Flat Earth Society,
debates,
magicians,
murder mysteries,
the Supreme Court,
the dominance of inadequacy marketing (where the goal is to make the potential customer feel inadequate and insecure so that they will be motivated to buy a product to solve their supposed problems),
the large number of TED Talks dedicated to how easily our minds are influenced, and
my close relative in the bakery trying to decide for three minutes which pastry she wanted saying “it’s such a hard decision”…meanwhile I could almost hear her body screaming at her mind, “get out of the way!! I know exactly what I want!”

This tiny list begins to provide an idea of the vast amounts of energy, time and money that are wasted because people don’t know how to access their intuition and because their minds can’t tell the truth.

5. Is intuition the same as feeling? Feelings are not intuition and neither is thinking. Feelings and thoughts create an iterative cycle influencing each other and often not in good ways. Often what people feel is charged with negative energy from their emotional and other biases. Even when positively charged, they’re still often biased by beliefs and emotions – this includes cravings and desires. Certain feelings and sensations can indicate an intuitive response, for example hair standing up, a shiver down your spine, the feeling of a pit in your stomach, a lifting feeling in the heart, feeling warm or cold etc. These types of sensations can be indicative of intuitive information but only when one is not thinking (because thinking blocks intuition) and neutral in the moment, as biases also interfere with intuition. This is partly why meditation is one of many intuition hacks.

6. Is Intuition better than thinking? In my view one is not effective without the other – both are required to be successful in business or in life. The analytical mind is excellent for research, coming up with the best questions, analyzing responses, validating them and executing actions. However, it’s less effective at making decisions because it can’t tell what is true…especially under stress. Employing intuition can dramatically improve decision-making outcomes and safely and practically integrating intuition with reason will dramatically reduce stress, increase flow and improve results in business and all areas of life.

7. Can intuition be learned? I’m living proof that it can. Early in my career I was climbing the corporate ladder, spent most of my time in my head thinking, forced my body to do what my mind wanted and accomplished many goals. However, “success” came at a cost. In terms of health, I became a mess with adrenal burnout, skin issues, allergies, digestion problems, physical injuries etc. all from not listening to my intuition. Fast forward a few years and every one of my health issues was gone and despite being older I was the most physically fit than I had been in years and even more so now. Over 10+ years I learned and applied all I could about intuition in business and in my life. I created an intuition learning system for others like me and even for creatives who already consider themselves naturally intuitive. Previously dominant analytical types can even have an advantage in developing their intuitive skills. Once they become interested, they naturally set goals, are disciplined about proper technique (yes, there is a technique), analyze their mistakes and are driven to correct and improve. Creatives can struggle with the discipline required to master their intuition and sometimes be more emotional which blocks intuition. I’ve also taught a number of creative and naturally intuitive (under certain conditions) people how to transcend their biases and environmental pressures to improve their ability to access their intuition under more challenging conditions and to be more accurate overall.

8. Just listen to your inner voice? For many people, their intuition speaks to them as an inner voice. For some who are very discerning, this may work, however, listening to the inner voice can be one of the most inaccurate ways of observing intuitive information because our mind also often communicates desires, fears and biases as an inner voice. There are more observable and measurable methods. There is substantial evidence showing that the human body receives, processes and communicates vast amounts of information through the heart and intestines. There are ways that you can use your body to objectively and measurably see and feel your intuition.

Here is a bonus. There has been a lot written and researched about flow state lately as a powerful means of multiplying personal and organizational performance in sports, business, creative pursuits and life in general. In fact, flow state is the same as the intuitive state….only sustained through activity. So intuition hacks are also flow hacks.

By the way there are ways to access and use intuition reliably and to combine intuition practically and safely with analysis and logic. I’m putting them into an intuition learning system that will soon be available.

If you’re interested in learning more about intuition and how to access it whenever you want in a measurable, observable and logical way then feel free to contact me here or start by downloading my eBook here.

About Rob Pilz

A financial and business creative. An entrepreneur, executive and advisor to leaders in business with over 20 years experience in creating, building, optimizing, financing, purchasing and selling businesses ranging from Fortune 500‘s to Delloite’s Technology Fast 50TM. With a talent for bringing out the best in leaders and an expertise in creating leverage / power in business, my current passion is building a network of conscious leaders generating a virtuous cycle of positive change and wealth. Always looking for ways to improve the odds of business success I’ve developed a process combining reason and intuition to make better faster decisions that I call Zero Point Decision Makin g®. I welcome your questions or comments at my website www.robpilz.com, to my email address at rob@robpilz.com.