I agree wholeheartedly with this practice.

In fact, I’ve been doing it for a while professionally. From a business perspective, it just makes sense, it makes me happier, and it allows me to really serve the people I am meant to serve.

I was talking to a brand new friend about this topic yesterday, and the thought occurred to me: Why not apply this same concept to my personal life?

I know for a fact that my personal and professional life are very connected. It stands to reason that if I’m not applying the red velvet rope policy to my personal life, my professional life won’t be as successful as it could be.

So, what is the criteria for my personal red velvet rope policy?

In the past I’ve considered this idea in a more general sense. But when I applied the same level of thought and detail that I’ve applied to my professional life, I found that the answers are actually the same. Not surprisingly, my personal and professional criteria are identical.

So, here is my criteria:

• Smart (book smart, street smart, creative smart… any kind of smart)
• Quick thinking
• Willing to laugh at themselves
• Always trying to improve
• Good listening skills
• Reliable (do what they say they will do)
• Admits mistakes and tries to fix and learn from them
• Takes responsibility for their own situation
• Willing to tell the truth, even when it isn’t popular or easy
• Respectful of me and others
• Realistic (not overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic)
• Introspective
• Open to new ideas and ways of doing things
• Willing to make a commitment to the relationship

Yes, this is quite a long list. You might think that not many people would meet all these criteria. And that is probably true.

You may also be thinking, “Who the heck does she think she is? How conceited must she be to think she can create criteria like this?”

Or maybe you are thinking that I’m not open to lots of different kinds of people.

But here is how I look at it…

My red velvet rope policy doesn’t apply to acquaintances, or Facebook friends, or Twitter followers, or people I’m casual friends with.

It is NOT about eliminating people from my life.

It is NOT about judging people.

It IS about me spending most of my time with people who inspire me to be the best I can be.

In my professional life, I do workshops and teach classes, and some of the people in attendance aren’t a perfect fit for me. That’s okay. I still like them, enjoy our time together, and want to make sure they get value from the experience.

I just don’t think they or I will be best served by a more formal relationship.

This is also true for close friendships.

While I will always have people in my life (and business) who don’t meet all these criteria, the people I’m closest to should come pretty darn close most of the time.

If not… well, maybe it is time to reconsider the type of relationship that makes sense.

I must say, it is very liberating to consider this in my personal life, and I can already feel that this will have a positive impact on my business. I’m just a happier and more productive person in general when I surround myself with people who truly belong on the inside of my red velvet rope.

You don't know what lies beneath that shiny business suit until you take it off

A little over a year ago, I made one of the bravest decisions of my life.

I decided that I was going to focus full time on running my own business.

Sure, I’d been dancing around it for almost a decade, coaching as a “side hustle” as Pamela Slim would say. But deciding to do it “for real” – as in getting up in the morning and focusing on it all day – was a very scary thing.

The funny thing is, although the changes I have made in my professional life have often been a challenge, they are nothing compared to the effect these changes are having on my personal life.

Let me back up…

I believe that most of us have two personas: personal and professional. For some of us they are very different, for others they are almost identical. During the first 20 years of my career, both of my personas were completely intertwined.

I was one of those annoying people who couldn’t talk about themselves without discussing what they did for a living. I *was* my job title.

That changed a year ago, and at this point I’m finally 90% comfortable with this change in my professional persona. I coach people through this process, and I’ve seen it work magic. In fact, I was feeling a bit smug about how well it worked.

I thought I was almost done with my own transformation.

Wrong.

My professional and personal personas. I wonder which one is which?

Although I preach about it all the time, I *still* forgot about the other half.

My personal persona.

I massively underestimated how much changing my professional persona would lead me to change my personal one. All of a sudden, I’m challenging assumptions that I could never have imagined questioning.

Even answers to fundamental BIG questions are no longer clear, like…

• What do I like to do?
• What do I NOT like to do?
• What kind of people do I enjoy being around?
• What risks am I willing to take?
• Who am I willing to upset in the process?

As it turns out, this whole personal persona shift is much more frightening than I imagined.

So… I’m going to do what any good blogger does. I’m going to share my progress in this blog.

My goal is to share where I’m at, how it is going, and what assumptions I’m challenging at the moment. Sometimes the challenges will be large, other times they will seem trivial.

Once one assumption falls, they all fall

But it really doesn’t matter how large or small they are. I’ve learned that even small changes are like dominoes… each of them are tiny, but they have the potential to affect hundreds of others.

I appreciate your encouragement and hope you will get to learn from some of my mistakes.

Here’s to a year of challenging assumptions and becoming someone new!!

We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

Is he acting, or is he really a superhero?

This summarizes one of my core beliefs: We all know, deep down, who we are meant to be, but sometimes we just get caught up in being who we think we should be.

Here are some of my favorite questions that get to the heart of creating a career, business, or life that is authentically you:

• Where in your life are you acting versus being?

• What about yourself are you hiding to avoid seeming immature, inappropriate, different, or downright freaky?

• What would your 3 year old self say about the person you are right now?

• What is it about your real self that you are afraid of?

Just when I think I know my own answers to these questions, I realize there is more to uncover.

How about you?

My Success Statement is: Influencer + Service

My Success Statement

The influencer part made sense. I love influencing other people to achieve a goal, and I think I am pretty good at it. So this seemed to fit right away.

But Service?

The term made me bristle a bit. While I fully support the idea of serving one’s customers, the idea of my personal Success Statement being about service made me feel a bit out of control – like I was under someone else’s thumb.

The problem was that when I thought about the word service, I actually interpreted it as servitude instead. I thought of service as being at someone else’s mercy.

Of course, this is a misconception.

How I used to feel about the word service

Service is about helping those who want help or graciously and selflessly helping those who do not.

Servitude is helping those who don’t want help or feeling put out by those you are trying to help.

As an Influencer, my gut reaction to any situation is to try to take action – to come up with a solution to any problem and influence others to take the steps to fix it.

This works great when someone asks for my help. Or when someone wants help and also takes responsibility for their own life or business.

If not, well… it doesn’t work so well. Then I am in servitude. I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong and then expecting kudos. Or, I’m getting punched in the nose, repeatedly, for trying to help.

And then I feel used…. and then I don’t act like a very good Influencer.

This is not a good place to be.

It seems like this is particularly difficult for those of us who coach or consult for a living. We want to help – to be of service – but we have a tendency to end up in servitude because we try to help everyone we meet or we get overwhelmed by all the people who want our help.

Then we become bitter and resentful. Then we don’t like serving anymore.

We may find ourselves saying things like:

I’ve done so much for her. Why can’t she say thank you? Why doesn’t she show me her appreciation?

I’ve done so much for him. How dare he keep pestering me to do more?

Here is the hard truth:

Um... she doesn't look like a good influencer, does she?

If you decide to help someone who doesn’t ask for your help, you must be okay when they don’t appreciate it. They didn’t ask for your help, so why should they feel obligated to show their appreciation or reciprocate in any way?

And if someone keeps asking for more and more, it is up to you to set your boundaries. It isn’t their fault if you let them take advantage of you.

If you never run into these issues, good for you.

If you do, here are a few things I do to move from servitude to service that may work for you, too:

1. Always get permission

Don’t help people who don’t ask for your help. Or, at least ask people if they want your help before you dive in. This sounds very simple, but those of us who lean toward servitude tend to skip this simple step.

2. Know where your boundaries are

While it might seem contradictory, getting out of your mind and into your body can be one of the best ways to learn your boundaries so you don’t move into servitude territory. When you give your mind time to rest by paying attention to your body, you have time to process experiences and feelings. This will help prevent you from trying to serve those who don’t want or need to be served.

The key is to find a way to focus on your body and your breath. Try any type of moving meditation, such as running, walking, cycling, or swimming. You are looking for an activity that includes simple, repetitive physical movements without the need to concentrate intently on each move.

While you are engaged in your moving meditation, notice how your body feels, not what you are thinking. Breathe and feel where your body ends. This will help you process the day through your body and set appropriate boundaries in all areas of your life.

3. Be able to say “no”

Do you often feel like you “must” help someone, even though you don’t want to? Do you constantly find yourself using the words “have to”?

While some tasks and obligations are truly mandatory, most aren’t. You are simply choosing to help someone in order to obtain the benefits of that help.

The next time you find yourself saying “I have to”, ask one simple question: Why?

If this doesn’t generate a valid reason, ask it again. Keep asking this simple question until you get to the root of your reasons for doing something you don’t want to do. Even if you decide to do it anyway, you will be doing so with a clear reason for your decision.

It's all about me...

4. Learn how to be selfish

It is important for you to take actions on your behalf on a daily basis – these are actions that you want to take for you, not for someone else. A great way to make sure you are taking these actions is to keep a daily “action list” of actions that you have taken on your behalf. This list should not include activities undertaken for others or because you feel like you “must” do them. These should be actions you have taken to better yourself, to make yourself happy, or to spoil yourself. This may seem selfish, but learning to do things for yourself is a key to being able to help others. Keep your daily action list for at least a week and see if you can make it longer each day.

If you are called to serve, congratulations! It can be one of the most rewarding ways to live and work. My hope for you is that you recognize the difference between service and servitude so the world can continue to reap the benefits of your gifts.

Let's see... what is my business focused on today?

Ok, today I’m writing about something that is near and dear to my heart:

Consistency!

I feel close to this topic because I am so incredibly horrible at taking my own advice when it comes to being consistent.

Every day, I have new ideas for businesses, products, services, and marketing tools. And although I’ve been coaching for 10 years, I am embarrassed to even share how many different coaching niches, business structures, and target markets I have focused on over the years.

Don’t get me wrong… I love the fact that I can create a new business, including the website, products, and promotional materials, in a day or two. And there is nothing wrong with variety – it certainly keeps things interesting.

However, it is very difficult to build a successful business if you are changing it every week. It is the equivalent of trying to change out the foundation of a house without collapsing the souffle that is in the oven.

What happens when you aren't consistent

So… I came to the conclusion that I needed to find a way to honor my core personality while also making some real money.

Here are five things I did that helped me get and stay on track while still having fun:

1. Keep your ideas safe, sound,… and hidden.

My friend Michael Woomer gave me this idea, and it has worked great for me! When I have an idea for a new business, niche, or market, I email it to myself and move it to a folder called “My Crazy Ideas”. I only read these emails once per quarter at the most. This way I know I won’t lose any of my “great” ideas, but I also won’t be tempted to follow up on every one of them. You could also write ideas down on a small pieces of paper and put them in a closed box.

2. Find the theme amongst all your interests.

For me, this turned out to be helping people make a difference in the world by being themselves. I try to do this everywhere I go, even when I’m not working with clients – much to the chagrin of my close friends and family. No matter what strange business ideas I might have, I know that this theme always must be at the center of it. This simplifies things and keeps me from going off into strange and unsafe places. I bet you also have a theme behind your interests.

How my cat looks when I try to coach him

3. Decide if the problem is boredom or avoidance.

Boredom means you are disinterested; avoidance means you are scared.

I’ll use myself as an example. I would even help my cats find and live their passion if their were no humans around (and if I could figure out how to talk to a cat). Therefore, I know that this part of my business certainly isn’t boring for me. If I’m not making progress on my business, the culprit is easy to find: avoidance. As in: If I avoid launching that new product, I won’t have to commit to supporting it, and then I won’t be successful, and then I won’t have to be the person I know I can be. Ouch.

Which is it for you: boredom or avoidance?

If it is boredom, figure out what is boring you. Is it the topic? The delivery model? Your business partners? Whatever it is, change it.

If the problem is avoidance, figure out what you are afraid of so you can start to get over it.

4. Get a little help from your friends.

It can feel comfortable to hang with people who can empathize with your plight – this is the basis for the phrase “misery loves company.” Empathy is a great thing. However, make sure you also find friends who, while able to understand your situation, have managed to build consistency into their businesses – or who are at least heading confidently in this direction. Hang out with these people on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or even better, in person. Their energy will rub off on you.

Get off the diving board already!

5. Launch the darn thing!

This is the scary part. Go ahead, let everyone know what you are doing and who you serve. Metaphorically get off the diving board and into the pool. Plaster it all over your website. Shout about it in your newsletter. Schedule a speaking engagement. Once the cat is out of the bag, it is harder to slip back into old habits and you will have a reason to stick with something long enough to make it a success.

Do you have other ideas? How have you built consistency into your business?

The Fall Equinox is when day and night are equal, and after today the days will get shorter and shorter until the Winter Solstice in December. This time is associated with the harvest – a time when you assess where you are at and make plans to withstand the coldness of winter.

Since today is a major transition point in the year, you may feel a desire to take stock of where you are… for example:

What is working right now in your life, career, and business?

What isn’t working?

How can you rearrange your priorities to focus on what is most important?

Most importantly, how can you celebrate the parts of your life and work that are wonderful?

Here are some of the things I am thankful for:

• A husband and family that support me, no matter what
• Friends who accept my quirks and allow me to poke fun at theirs
• My neighborhood, which has become a community I adore
• A body that allows me to get up every morning and do my moving meditation (speed walking), which keeps me sane
• Awesome clients and colleagues who allow me to keep doing what I love to do

What about you? Don’t wait until Thanksgiving. Now is the time to get together with friends and family to celebrate what you have been given over the last year, and to look forward to using those gifts as the days get shorter and shorter.

Start giving thanks now.

This is part of a series of posts inspired by the ideas in Seth Godin’s free ebook entitled What Matters Now.

The ultimate lesson of regret, the one that will help guide you into a rich and satisfying future, is this: Every time life brings you to a crossroads, from the tiniest to the most immense, go toward love, not away from fear.  – Martha Beck

Given what I do for a living, I run into a large number of people who aren’t excited about what they do at work. I ask them what they like to do. I ask them what they are good at. If I know them well, I mention some of their obvious talents. Then I ask them why they don’t do one of these things instead of what they are doing.

After they laugh, roll their eyes, or give me a blank stare, I usually hear something like this:

• I’d look stupid – I didn’t go to college to just be a belly dancer.
• I’m not smart enough to be a political writer – all the people who do that have lots of experience and education.
• What will my parents/friends/family/coworkers/church group think if I become a professional psychic?
• No one will pay me to make scrapbooks.
• I can’t make a change until I am sure I can make money as a personal trainer.
• I just need to put up with waiting tables for now – someday I’ll make a change.
• I’m too busy looking for a job. Once I find one, I’ll have time to think about what I could do with my event planning talents.
• I’m too worried about paying the bills to think about being happy.

Notice anything interesting about all of these responses? Yep, they are all  based on the same thing: FEAR.

I’m not saying you should go off and follow your dream of becoming a professional belly dancer if you don’t have a means of supporting yourself or your family. Or if, shall we say, you aren’t really cut out for skimpy, shiny outfits and shaking body parts in close proximity to strangers. Likewise, I am not suggesting that you pursue something you are obviously not prepared to tackle. I’m a realist.

However, as long as you are thinking about what you fear, you aren’t thinking about what you love. And fear will keep you stuck forever in an endless cycle. Anne Jackson, author of the upcoming book Permission To Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace, put it well when she said that “fear plays the role of antagonist in the story of your life.” If you listen to fear, you’ll never even have the opportunity to truly explore what will make you happy.

If this sounds familiar, try one of these methods for breaking the fear cycle:

Visualize yourself as if the fear does not exist.

This technique works because it allows you to experience the feeling of doing what you want in a safe environment: your mind. Simply imagine or visualize a day in your life as you do the thing you love. Athletes use this tool to visualize risky moves so they can train their mind to get past the fear before they put themselves in mortal danger. This technique works particularly well if you hear yourself saying things like “I can’t”, “I couldn’t”, or “I shouldn’t” because it allows you to “see” and “feel” yourself doing it. You may find that you enjoy the feelings so much that it is worth taking the risk and giving it a shot.

You might also realize that the problem isn’t really what you thought it was. For example, Nancy was a successful businesswoman who was an avid scrap booker in her spare time. She dreamed of starting a scrapbook business, but was convinced that she couldn’t earn any money organizing other people’s memorabilia. I took her through a visualization exercise where we explored a day in her life as a professional scrap booker. As she described her day, she saw herself booked solid, making more than enough money. But she also noticed that she was alone. This was deeply troubling to Nancy because she is a very social person. She realized the real fear wasn’t about money at all – it was really a fear of being alone. Nancy realized that in order to make her business dreams come true, she needed to explore her fear of being alone – and possibly find some friends who also like scrapbooking.

Research, research, research.

Sometimes fear of the unknown can keep us paralyzed. If you have the distinct feeling that you are about to jump into a very deep pool without knowing how to swim, maybe it is time to get some more information about your dream. Take some classes, talk to experts, read a book – whatever you need to learn more and feel comfortable that you have the skills and knowledge you require. Then you might find that your fear begins to dissolve on its own.

Figure out what you are REALLY afraid of.

Fear is a slippery little thing. Like Nancy found out, it can sometimes make you think you are afraid of one thing, when in fact you are afraid of something else. Another example comes from a client I’ll call Jonathan. Jonathan told me he was terrified of speaking in public. The problem was that his new job as Vice President of Customer Service, which he loved, required him to speak to groups on a regular basis. So, I started to work with him to build up his confidence related to public speaking. Unfortunately, no matter what I did, the fear persisted. After a few sessions, I stopped and, on a whim, asked Jonathan what topic he was speaking about. He told me he attended board meetings every quarter. As the head of customer service, he was responsible for presenting the company’s customer satisfaction metrics. “How are the metrics looking?,” I asked. “Well,” Jonathan said, “they aren’t looking too good. I’m making progress, but the department was in pretty bad shape when I took over.” At this point, I went with a hunch: “Wow, it sounds like that could generate a lot of conflict during the meeting.” At this, Jonathan’s eyes started watering. Hmm. What we really had was a fear of conflict, not a fear of public speaking. Once we figured that out, we were able to wiggle it loose. If this story sounds vaguely familiar, take some time to really dig deep and see if your fear is actually a screensaver for what is really holding you back.

Determine whether you can deal with the worst-case scenario.

Just recently, I made some business decisions that are relatively risky. I realize they might not all pan out as I hope. But, I decided that my business was important and I was willing to deal with the worst case scenario that could result from these decisions: this could include closing up shop, trying to find a low paying job so I could pay the bills, and swapping my cushy condo for a studio apartment, or worse, moving in with relatives. Do I expect this to happen? No. Do I want to fail? No. But if I do, I know I can deal with the absolute worst that could happen if my business risks don’t pay off. Can you deal with YOUR worst case scenario? If so, it might be time to consider moving toward what you love instead of away from what you fear.

Do you have other ideas about how to move past fear? I’d love to hear about them, and I’m sure others would too. Please leave us a comment…

During the last year, several businesses in my beloved community have closed and a few others look like they are going in the same direction. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the successful businesses have in common. Here is what I came up with:

1. Happy employees: One of my favorite small businesses here in my community almost always has three or four employees on the premises… the funny thing is that typically only two of them are actually supposed to be working. The others are there just because they want to be there. Some business owners seem to have forgotten that if their employees don’t want to be there, neither will anyone else.
2. A good product: Right now, people are spending money on things they really WANT that help them achieve their GOALS. People don’t want the same old junk – they want something that represents who and what they are and/or want to be.
3. Confidence: Taking the same old crappy merchandise or food (see #2) and putting it on sale won’t help. If you always have big red “sale” signs in your window, we know that really means you want to get rid of your junk. This makes you desperate and “graspy”, which is not attractive.

After I put this list together, I was happy to find that it aligns very well with the Law of Attraction. According to the Law of Attraction, “like attracts like.” What you get in life is directly correlated with what you send into the world via your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, which are just forms of energy. If you focus on what you want, send out positive energy (thoughts and feelings), and act with intention, you can attract what you desire.

To apply this to my list above:

1. Happy employees → Having positive employees who attract positive customers who spend money
2. A good product → Offering something wonderful to attract something wonderful
   
3. Confidence → Believing that you offer something wonderful
   

What happens if you do all these things? Well, you send out positive energy. And like attracts like.

So, when it comes to attracting success, a business is no different than a person. A business is an organism that projects positive or negative energy, which then allows it to attract success (or not).

Is this an oversimplification? Maybe… or maybe not.

____________________

I am an introvert, but I love to hang out with extroverts. Those of the extroverted persuasion fascinate me. I think the universe knows I love them because it keeps sending them to me. These wonderful souls accept my blunt comments and observations, and instead of thinking about and stewing over my words, they just react. So fun!

Introverts like me love the intuitive decision making process because it allows us to use our gift: introspection. We can think about what we notice and interpret it all in our heads. On the other hand, when I describe this process to extroverts, I get a blank stare.

An extrovert’s reaction goes something like this:

• “I don’t notice anything when I think about my question.”
• “How does what I notice have anything to do with my question?”
• “What am I supposed to be doing?”

Extroverts are more action oriented. They’d rather react to things than consider the options. They want to talk rather than think. They don’t want to sit around for days, weeks, or months contemplating a decision. Introverts love this (although it isn’t always good for us), but it drives an extrovert mad.

So, how does an extrovert use intuition to make better decisions?

The answer lies in an extrovert’s strength: action. If you are an extrovert, you don’t want to contemplate what you notice. You want quick action. The solution is to come up with “rules” you can apply to all your decisions. You can use these rules to reach good decisions quickly without the need for a lot of introspection.

Here is an example:

Maia was frustrated. She’d accepted 3 jobs in the last 4 years, and she was already on the prowl for the next “perfect” job. Each time she went for an interview, she got excited about the company, the people, the job. Her passion showed, and employers lined up to hire her. Unfortunately, a few months after she accepted a new position, she was miserable because the job turned out to be a nightmare. She couldn’t believe she didn’t notice the company’s crappy product, people, or work environment before she accepted the job.

Ahh, the joys of being an extrovert. The problem was that Maia loves talking about what she loves, and she likes taking action. She gets excited during the interview, and all her talking and adrenaline “hides” her intuitive whispers that are telling her to run.

The cool thing is that our intuition is very smart. If we don’t listen to the intuitive whispers, it sends intuitive slaps in the face. Maia and I talked about the last interview that produced a less-than-ideal job. She happened to mention that she felt very tired after the interview. Not just a bit sleepy, but so tired that she went to sleep in the middle of the afternoon.

This is odd. Maia loves talking to people and selling herself. She doesn’t get tired in the afternoon, especially not after a day of talking and selling. What gives?

This is the good, old intuitive slap in the face I mentioned. Maia wasn’t built to listen to her mind, but her body was speaking volumes in a language she could understand. Action and excitement is her normal reaction to a day of interviewing, but this time she feels exhausted. Red flag.

So, the intuitive decision making process for an extrovert is short and sweet:

1. Pay attention to your body’s reactions to decisions that turn out good.

2. Notice when your reactions don’t match this “good decision” norm.

3. Avoid decisions that favor these atypical reactions.

Maia realized that each dud job followed a pattern: excitement during the interview, exhaustion after the interview. My theory is that Maia’s body was simply worn out from dealing with the negative “vibe” associated with the company, the people, the position, or all three.

Seems simple, but my unscientific studies show that this process works. The body is a major gateway to your intuition. When you are experiencing something that is right for you, your body reacts positively. For Maia, this means energy and a feeling of vibrancy. When the experience is less than optimal, you will feel bad, or at least not normal. In Maia’s case, she was uncharacteristically inclined to go home and hibernate.

Dr. Martha Beck, the well-known life coach and best-selling author, describes this process best:

You can use your body’s innate properties to play a high-stakes game of Hot and Cold. Your body knows where your North Star [what you want] is, and it does its best to tell you when you’re getting “cooler” or “warmer.” When you face a proposition that’s wrong for you, your body will try to go into the negative gesture [the bad decision reaction]…. When you’re headed down your true path, it will want to celebrate by moving into the positive gesture [the good decision reaction].

It is worth noting that this technique also works very well for introverts. But for extroverts, the body can be the best way to access the intuitive mind.

I’m the type of person who makes lists for everything. So, when I started working on using my intuition in a more directed way, I read a lot of books about the subject. I was looking for a simple process I could follow. Many of the resources I found didn’t provide a specific process to follow, and those that did were too complicated or difficult to apply in a business context. Lots of great information out there, but I was looking for something short, sweet, and repeatable.

I experimented with different processes and condensed it down to a few easy steps. I came up with something that works really well, particularly for those who are introspective. Here it is…

The steps in the intuitive decision making process are:

1. Question
2. Notice
3. Interpret
4. Decide

Step 1: Question

This is the most important step. If you do not ask the right question, you will not get a good answer. If you are ever unsure about the information you are receiving from your intuition, always check to make sure you have asked the right question. Most difficulties with using this process are a result of asking vague, complicated, or compound questions.

Step 2: Notice

In this step you will begin to tune in to your intuitive mind. I like to describe this process as “knowing what you already know” because tapping into your intuition is not about learning new information – it is about noticing and documenting impressions you are aware of but to which you may not normally pay attention.

There are many ways you can notice intuitive information. You might receive intuitive information through visual images or sounds, via your sense of smell or taste, through sensations in your body, through feelings or emotions, or even through physical reactions such as nausea, headaches, body aches, or a sense of lightness. You may also have a sense of energy in the body.

Step 3: Interpret

Once you have documented your observations, you are ready to begin interpreting them. For example, let’s say your question was: “What skills will be important in my new position?” After asking this question, you notice a bird outside your window coming back to its nest with food. You might interpret this observation as the need to leverage your skills as a competent and nurturing manager to provide training and mentoring for your team. Or, you may interpret this observation as the need to successfully manage a new project so you can launch a new service offering. Your interpretation will vary depending on your unique situation.

Step 4: Decide

Now it is time to pull it all together to make a holistic decision. Verify your intuitive impressions in the “real world” if possible. Leverage analytical data in the form of reports, analysis, or research. Your analytical data can help you verify your interpretations, or possibly provide a reality check if your interpretations are bizarre, unrealistic, or dangerous. Interpretations that seem to encourage you to harm yourself or others are almost always something other than intuition and should be treated with extreme suspicion.

The first few times you use this process, it might feel a bit clumsy. But I promise, after some practice, it becomes second nature and allows you to make decisions very quickly.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll follow a real person as he applies these steps to turn around his business… watch for those posts…