What Is Intuition and How Does It Give You a Competitive Edge?
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Intuition, or gut feeling how it is sometimes called, is a nasty little one. Somehow we know, that it is something we can rely upon, and at the same time it feels terrible fuzzy. This article wants to give you a quick overview about what intuition is and how you can profit from it.
It is summer 2019, and I am sitting at the beach of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, enjoying my coconut cocktail out of an actual coconut. The wind strokes gently over my face, and I am enjoying my life under a palm tree.
Sounds like paradise, doesn’t it?
“I hate it”, came up my mind. Not the beach or holiday in particular, but my life in general. Being there, what most people call paradise, and be utterly miserable makes me think. “What is wrong with my life?”, I asked myself again.
Intuition led me to a major decision
During that time, I was working as a digital marketing specialist. It was shorty after I published my first book about Instagram with a major publisher. The lions share of my money I am earning with online marketing courses I am offering for companies.
But it made me feel miserable. The whole social media topic sucks the energy out of my body and leaves me back shallow. Always on, always responding — taking pictures of everything. It exhausted me.
At this particular point, I decided to explore a feeling inside me. A clear sensation which I had neglected for a long time. While I am sitting there in the sun, I feel my whole body tightened. Every muscle is tensed. This is the moment, where I make a decision: I will stop being self-employed and start over.
At this time, I had no clue, what to do with my life. But in a sudden all the pressure lifted off my body and I started feeling lightweight again. From this moment on, the holiday was like a holiday was supposed to be.
Relaxing.
Two weeks later, a befriended entrepreneur called me with his co-founder and offered me a job: “Dennis, we are looking for someone at blink.it who builds the Customer Success department from scratch. Are you in?”.
Life is strange, and sometimes things fall magically together.
What is intuition?
I couldn’t resist — I knew it is the right decision to start at blink.it. So I did it and never regret it.
So, what is intuition?
Usually we focus on the voice in our mind. It tells us what to do, comments on our life and gives sometimes clear instructions. Depending on the type of the voice, this is the language of your rational mind. It can handle language and expresses itself through it.
But intuition is different: it’s fuelled by your unconscious mind and expresses itself through bodily sensations. Usually we don’t recognize those sensations, because they are usually very subtle.
What most people recognize are the big sensations, when things went south for a long time: burnout and depression.
But until this happens, our subconscious mind sends us subtle signals throughout our life. Maybe you remember a situation like this: You were on search for a nice new car, a new flat or clothing. You already have looked through countless offers. Nothing felt right.
But then, suddenly, there is this one piece. The one piece that triggers something deep insight you and sparks happiness and joy insight you.
“This is it”, you think.
That feeling? It’s intuition through a bodily sensation right into your consciousness.
Intuition are bodily sensations
So, what kind of bodily sensations could be there?
- A sudden feeling of having made the right decision, even though the factual knowledge has not objectively changed.
- Physical sensations: Sometimes intuition speaks to us through physical sensations such as tingling, goosebumps, tightness in the chest, or stomachaches. These sensations can signal to us that we should be cautious in a particular situation or that something is not right.
- One of the more well-known intuitive physical sensations is the “gut feeling.”
- Dreams or visions: Intuition can also manifest in the form of dreams or visions. A dream can convey an important message to us about ourselves or our environment
For you, intuition might feel completely different to what I am experiencing. Most important is, that you actively listen to it.
In another article, I mentioned, how ChatGPT helps me to get in contact with my intuition.
Why is intuition important?
As I described at the beginning: My intuition gave me clear signals on what to do next. Big and life-changing decisions are often not easily to answer. There is no clear yes or no, right or wrong.
But our decision is like a compass, fuelled by our very own nature. It’s always pointing to our personal north star. Usually we just forgot how to make use of it.
I’ll soon release my book “Trust Your Gut — 6 Tools to Improve Your Intuition, Make Better Decisions and Life with Ease”.
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