INTUITION
LISTEN TO YOUR CUES
Your body has a natural tendency to mirror your inner feelings . Your body might open up or close off depending on how your brain perceives something close to you . You see this in the real world all the time : someone in a bar can reject someone with their body language by turning their torso away from them and crossing their arms before they ever even open their mouth .
To tap into your intuition , monitor your body language changes to different stimuli :
• Open body language . Cues such as turning your torso towards something , smiling , and leaning forward are all indicators that you ’ re in agreement and your intuition says , “ Yes !”
• Closed body language . Conversely , cues such as crossed arms , pursed lips , or leaning backward can indicate your intuition saying , “ No .”
REFLECT ON THE PAST
Can you think of a time where you did listen to your intuition ? How did you know you listened to it ?
Conversely , you can also ask yourself the opposite : When did you not listen to your intuition ?
Asking yourself these vital questions by reflecting on your past can help uncover those critical moments where your intuition came into play .
NAME YOUR EMOTIONS Emotions can be complex .
Difficult emotions can cloud our intuition , especially when they ’ re acting in overdrive . So here ’ s how you can make things easier : name your emotions . You can even personify them , just like the Disney movie Inside Out .
Anger can be a red-hot commando who always wants to get stuff done . Anxiety can be a long-faced crazy lady who ’ s always talking about doomsday .
It might sound silly , but we do it all the time — naming inanimate objects ( or in this case , emotions ) is called anthropomorphizing and we do it by naming ships , cars , guitars , teddy bears , and more . Studies even show that it can help alleviate loneliness and promote social connection !
TAKE A PERSONALITY TEST
Sometimes we need some time to get to know ourselves better . In this case , a personality test might help . But not just any personality test — the Big Five ( OCEAN ) Personality Test measures five key scientifically-proven criteria :
• Openness , or how open you are to new experiences
• Conscientiousness , the measure of how much you ’ re able to control your impulses
• Extroversion , how you gain energy from others
• Agreeableness , or how you accept ideas from others
• Neuroticism , the measure of how comfortable you are with yourself
Knowing your personality better can help give direction to your decision-making . Take the free personality test now :
BUILD MENTAL BRIDGES
The ability to connect different seemingly unrelated ideas is a special trait intuitive people have . After all , the more your brain is able to connect ideas together , the stronger your intuition in new scenarios .
Mental bridges work by building your knowledge . Learning about different things will help you build more bridges for the long run and train up your intuition muscle .
Try a new hobby . Take a new class . Explore a new book genre . Learn new things to build your mental bridges .
FLIP A COIN
Here ’ s another interesting tip you can try if you ’ re facing a difficult decision .
Take out a coin and flip it in the air — one side of the coin representing one decision , and the other side another decision . During the coin flip , pay attention to how you feel . Do you feel or wish that the coin would land one side up rather than the other ?
This choice is usually your intuitive one . EMPLOY VISUALIZATION
Let ’ s say you have a difficult decision when it comes to having a tough conversation with a roommate . You ’ ve narrowed it down to a few possible situations :
1 . You confront Jenny and tell her you know she ’ s been eating your sandwich from the fridge .
2 . You stick a letter on the fridge , asking if anyone has been eating your sandwich .
3 . You ignore it completely , opting to avoid the confrontation altogether .
With these 3 possible situations , visualize what would happen in each . Does one provide a better outcome for you ?
While this process involves a little brainpower , you might realize you intuitively “ know ” the best option by the most favorable outcome .
THE SCIENCE BEHIND INTUITION
According to PwC ’ s Big Decisions survey of more than 1,300 senior executives , 30 % of senior executives place the most reliance on “ experience ” or “ intuition ,” compared to 29 % who value data more highly when it comes to decision-making .
After all , many top executives know the key to running a great business is all in the decision-making .
Learning to tap into your wealth of intuition can dramatically improve your business decisions .
But what about research ? In one study , researchers aimed to see if intuition could be measured . They set up an experiment :
• 20 college students were shown black-and-white images of dots moving around on one side of a computer screen and were asked to guess if the dots were moving generally left or right .
• On the other side of the screen , they saw bright , flashing squares of color .
• Occasionally , an image would flash very briefly on the color-side of the screen that elicited either a positive emotion or
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