RULE 69

Follow your intuition

Deep down inside you know when you’re right, and you know when you’re wrong. Sure we can cut off that inner voice, but if we do we lose touch, and then we really are in trouble. That inner intuition may not speak loud and clear all the time but when it does you’d be mad not to follow it.

Trouble is, your mind also speaks loud and clear – all the time – and we mix the two up and follow what we think is intuition when in fact it is fear or jealousy or another emotion.

So how do you tell? If when you’re talking to somebody about a new system you are about to implement and, though they look positive, you feel an odd or cold feeling inside, heed it. Take time to think why. Tell somebody else about it and see if it happens again. Go back to the plan and look at it from all viewpoints, considering all the stakeholders. Are you still convinced?

Never be too proud or too lazy to get more feedback, to find a sounding board or to rethink a proposal or a decision if you’ve got a bad feeling about it.

Look at previous good or bad decisions you’ve made. How did you feel about them at the time? Did you, deep down, know a bad course of action was flawed before you followed it? Would you know that feeling again?

Developing your intuition is a hard thing to teach, but if you make a habit of ‘listening’ to how you feel about something, your radar will improve and you’ll begin to know when a gut feeling is telling you that something isn’t right.