By E. Elizabeth Carter
Intuition is the ability to know or understand something based on our feelings rather than facts. It is a skill we all possess, and if we are able to open ourselves up to this powerful internal guidance, it will direct us to achieve our personal and professional best. It helps us to recognize what our own purpose is in life as opposed to what others think we should be doing.
The more we exercise this innate ability, the more effective we will become at listening to what it is trying to tell us. When we practice mindfulness, or the process of focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, we are able to listen to our intuition better. Mindfulness helps us to become more aware of our body’s signals, which can be an indication of what our intuition is trying to tell us. If we disregard this “gut feeling”, then we may be ignoring our intuition alerting us about something that goes against our core values.
In the business world, being an intuitive leader can lead to greater success. Some of the attributes that these leaders possess include the following:
- They have an inner vision that guides them and helps them to achieve their company’s mission.
- They develop new and innovative approaches to business, as well as create new industry trends rather than follow them.
- When certain approaches are not moving their vision or their company’s vision forward, they make the important decisions necessary to change direction if needed.
- These leaders do not give up when there are problems to be solved. They thrive on figuring out new and creative solutions to these problems that others may think are impossible to solve.
These leaders also realize the importance of teamwork. Knowing how to listen to their intuition can help them when a team needs to be assembled for a specific task or project. Their intuition may send them warning signals if someone may not be right for the team. Once the team is assembled and working together, leaders may also experience a “gut feeling” when something is not going right with the group. Listening to their intuition and using it to fix what might be going wrong will help get the team back on track quickly. These leaders also know how to encourage and support team members and help them to achieve their personal best both professionally and personally.
Intuition is something we all have inside of us; it is not a magical power that only some of us possess. Paying attention to and developing our intuition can help each of us to stay true to our individual or team’s core values.
