Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Intuition - Make Yours A Powerful Tool

Intuition can be your best resource. Talk to most successful people and they will tell you it is what leads them to their decisions. Good thing, since most decisions are made with incomplete knowledge and the often conflicting opinions of others. Coming up with a good decision under those circumstances is one of the most valuable and sought after attributes in a leader.

Intuition is really the skill of assembling - over time - as much usable information from as many sources as possible and then interpreting and arriving at a decision – sometimes this process is very complicated, sometimes it isn’t.

Intuition can be a two edged sword. It can work, or it can fail. Think of the selection of people. How often have you seen people hired strictly on intuition – and then fail? How often have you seen the most scientific of selection processes fail to pick the best candidate – the right person for the right job? No wonder some leaders still use the “throw them up against the wall and see if they stick” method of selection. Might as well, they think, doesn’t seem anything else works much better.

The more open you are to challenges to your beliefs, the more powerful and effective your intuition becomes - and the more you trust it. Think about it – are your beliefs stuck in a rut, where you look for things that confirm your existing beliefs, or are you constantly challenging your beliefs, knowing that they are the results of your perceptions of events, and not necessarily the truth.

Too many challenges to your beliefs and you lose that decision making skill (the "bring me more information" syndrome), and too little challenge leads to the same decisions being made on the same set of beliefs, without regard for changing circumstances. It’s a balancing act – and successful people know that.

Ask top leaders if their intuitive skill has grown over the last five years and they will answer yes - in every case. The added experience of the last five years has allowed them to change and modify certain beliefs, and in doing so they have added even more power to their intuition. Ask less successful people the same question and the answers are varied: some feel they have used their experience to grow, others are locked in tight to their beliefs, and aren’t likely to budge – even if the results of their decisions indicate a different direction should be considered.

Your intuitive skill is the direct result of all the inputs you have received and how you interpret and perceive those inputs. To keep this powerful tool growing requires a dedication to openness, challenging your own beliefs, seeking out opportunities to grow and accomplish and a willingness to modify or change beliefs and behaviors and attitudes.

Fire up your own journey of discovery with a new author, a new social group, a new skill building seminar, a new perspective on your faith, an inventory of your beliefs. The more you do that, the more your ability to make effective decisions and take appropriate actions will grow. You may not even recognize your intuitive growth - but the people that count in your life will. I guarantee it.

Start today.

Written by Andy Cox President
Cox Consulting Group LLC, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com
Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

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