For example, Frederick is not a fan of using career aptitude or personality tests. There are a lot of tests out there that career counselors will use to help you determine your ideal career. I’ve taken a lot of these tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Kolbe Index, and the results can be very interesting. These tests can often explain your ideal work environment, your temperament, and the types of people you work best with. This is important and I am all for using these tests for these purposes. However, they don’t tell you a damn thing about your passions. Nor do they help you figure out what really makes you happy (which can be different than what you are good at).

I also agree with Frederick that once “your work is in alignment with your true mission…, your work will be successful and attract abundance–against all odds.”

My take is that you already know what you are passionate about. You just need to listen to your intuitive mind and your body. REALLY listen.

Ready to be your own career intuitive? Read these posts:

• The intuitive decision making process
• Calling all extroverts…

Think this sounds interesting and want to work on it together? Contact me.

The only difference between intuition and insanity is accuracy.

I’m not sure who said this first, but I’ve heard this quote (or something very close to it) many times. One of my friends just said it again on a call this morning. Many of us think our intuition is accurate, but how do you know? And if it is inaccurate, how do you fix it?

I’m a big fan of the scientific method. In a nutshell, the scientific method says that we should define the question, form a hypothesis, test it, adjust, then test again. Repeat until you have something that can be reproduced consistently.

Why not apply the same level of scrutiny to our intuition?

The next time you have a gut feeling about how something is going to turn out, write it down. When you finish an important appointment, like a job interview, write down how you feel afterward. Write it down IMMEDIATELY. Later, go back over your notes to see if it was right or wrong, or if your feelings predicted a certain outcome. If you were wrong, try to figure out how you might have misinterpreted your intuition and adjust. See if you can start seeing patterns in your feelings and reactions. Repeat, repeat, repeat – until you find ways to listen to and interpret your intuition that are almost always accurate.

I think many of us don’t want to subject our intuition to the scientific method because we believe it is a gift that drops out of the sky with no explanation or process. Nonsense. Intuition is like everything else: You have to test it, adjust, and repeat.

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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…

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am not a sports fan. At all.

But this year my husband is playing Fantasy Football. So, we spent an entire Saturday watching college football games between schools we normally couldn’t care less about. Between us, we have three degrees from Georgia Tech. In the interest of winning a bet, he spent an hour rooting for our arch rival, the University of Georgia. This is very odd.

But I digress…

The good news is this gave me an opportunity to watch a guy named Tate Forcier. Forcier is a true freshman quarterback who plays for Michigan. I learned that a “true” freshman football player is someone who is actually in his first year of college versus someone who is called a freshman even though he is not. And you wonder why I don’t like sports.

But I digress again…

The point is, this kid just reached the age of 19 in August. It is only his second start in college. And, by most accounts, he kicked butt on Saturday. With his team trailing 31 to 34 with only two minutes left in the game, he led his team on a march down the field. Then with only 11 seconds remaining in the game, he completed a touchdown pass to secure a last second come from behind victory against Notre Dame. The interesting thing was, he looked completely calm out there. He never rushed. He never looked worried.

Regardless, a brilliant reporter asked him: “So, how nervous were you?”

Forcier’s answer: “I don’t get nervous. I always had plenty of time.”

And I believe him. Why? Because he obviously has what every aspiring quarterback wants to have. Great intuition and the guts to use it.

Have you ever actually counted the number of seconds a quarterback has to decide what to do with the ball? One second? Three seconds? There isn’t enough time for the quarterback to use analytical decision making tools like carefully identifying options, weighing pros and cons, and selecting the best option. Intuition is the only sense that can react quickly enough to make good decisions in this type of situation.

My guess is that this kid has really honed his ability to listen to what his intuition is telling him and then actually act on it without hesitation. He is obviously not the first or last player to do this, but it is still very cool.

More on football, the mind, and intuition in a future article…

Here are three easy ways to start tuning your intuition – think of these as training for your intuitive mind:

1. Listen to your body’s reaction. With practice, you can learn to “read” how your body reacts to situations and people. Our minds are able to justify bad decisions, but your body just reacts. Next time you make a decision, notice your body’s reaction. Afterward, see if your body’s reaction was right.

2. Notice what you are thinking about. If you are trying to make a decision and you realize you are constantly thinking about one of the options, spend some time considering why this option might be weighing so heavily on your mind.

3. Go with what you know. The next time you have a relatively minor decision to make, try going with the option that you “know” is right, even if you can’t justify it. Write down your impressions, and then see what happens. Whether it turns out to be right or wrong, you will gain valuable information to help you continue to tune your intuition.