Have you ever heard people talk about “tapping into” intuition, and started to wonder… What’s the big deal with intuition? Why is intuition so powerful? How does intuition help you, and why is intuition important? What IS intuition? Let’s break all of that down for you in today’s article! We’re going to go over some examples of intuitive thinking, what intuition can do for you, and the process involved for how to develop your intuition…
What is intuition?
Intuition is a very core part of you that alerts you to what you need to pay attention to — you might not know exactly why you understand something very deeply, but you simply DO. Think of it as a feeling or innate ability to KNOW (e.g. the correct course of action, the best way to proceed, what’s right for you, etc), without needing to actively or consciously think about it or weigh the pros and cons. It is a very rapid decision-making process that often happens so quickly you don’t even realize it’s occurring.
You can think of your intuition as an internal compass that guides you. It is a clear voice that speaks without judgment or emotion; it is a neutral sort of knowing. It is you speaking, listening to, and standing in your own truth.
“That sounds cool! But… Is intuition real?” In a word — Yes! Intuition is real. It has been studied in psychology and research has proven it to be a real process that occurs in our brains.
Why is intuition important?
Many people think about morality when they think of intuition, because they view intuition as a “right vs wrong” sort of radar. Morality and ethics are certainly one way to approach it, but as a Personal Fulfillment Coach, I like working with clients to help them understand what is right vs wrong for them and for the decisions they’re making in their own lives.
For instance, what is the “wrong” choice for you might be the “right” choice for someone else (or, it might have been the “right” choice for you several years ago, but it is no longer a good fit for who you are and where you’re at and what your goals are, now).
Your intuition is important because it helps to guide you along your path in life, to make the best decisions for this version of yourself at this point in time.
The more that you listen to your intuition, the less distracted you’ll get and the less sidetracked you’ll become (especially from outside sources, e.g. living life based on societal norms or family expectations or peer pressure etc).
It’s also very important to tap into your intuition as part of the self coaching process: When you KNOW yourself, and LISTEN to yourself, you’ll be able to much more easily COACH yourself.
(This is also why intuition is highly connected to developing self awareness and working on personal growth, self improvement, and personal development.)
What can intuition do for you?
Intuition can be very helpful for preventing you from living life based on what someone else wants for you. It allows you to make the right decisions for yourself — and then act upon those choices.
Following your intuition is an act of self honesty and self trust. It isn’t always easy — but it’s very rewarding and personally fulfilling! Learning to lean on your intuition will enable you to live your best life and be your best self. And in that sense, tapping into your intuition involves improving your relationship with yourself. It’s very powerful for strengthening your interpersonal skills!
Learning how to develop and then tap into your intuition is an essential part of your self improvement and personal development journey.
Doing this can also protect you from harm: For example, listening to your intuition can be useful for increasing your awareness while walking alone at night. It brings your attention to the things your conscious mind might not be as aware of. There is a reason why your attention is being drawn to those things, which is also why learning how to INTERPRET your intuition is another extremely important skill.
It’s not enough to simply tap into your intuition… you also need to be able to understand what it’s saying (so you don’t misinterpret the communication) prior to following through on that intuitive voice.
A brief overview of the process for how to develop your intuition:
- Tap into your intuition and strengthen your intuitive muscle (AKA “turn up the volume dial” so you can HEAR your intuition).
- Pay attention and LISTEN to what your intuition is telling you (it’s not enough to develop your intuitive muscle so that it speaks loudly to you — you also need to be willing to hear what it has to say).
- Make sure you are correctly INTERPRETING what your intuition is saying to you (this also involves differentiating intuition from negative self talk in your head).
- ACT UPON your intuition (if you ignore it, then what’s the point in going through the above steps?).
Developing your intuition enables you to BE the active participant in your own life: You are making active and intentional decisions in your life, rather than passively letting your life be dictated to you or “happen to you” based on the people and circumstances around you.
Get personal fulfillment coaching and we’ll strengthen your intuitive muscle, so that you not only learn how to tap into your intuition and build a better relationship with yourself, but you ALSO learn how to accurately interpret what your intuition is telling you AND you'll create the capacity and courage to take ACTION on it:
Examples of intuitive thinking
Intuitive thinking can involve your interactions and relationships you have with people in your personal life or professional life, the strategies and tactics you choose in your business, the everyday little decisions you make from one moment to the next, the way in which you know what someone is going to do or say before they do or say it, the emotions you might sense in others without them overtly expressing them… There can be many ways that intuition shows up for you!
What it can look like in action:
- There’s a particular business tactic that’s industry standard, but it just doesn’t make sense to YOU — for whatever reason, you don’t really like that tactic or approach. So you do something different, because that “something different” feels RIGHT even though no one else in your industry might be doing it. (You might also find that years later, it seems as though *everyone* is now following your lead! This has certainly happened for me with doing anti-hustle productivity and cozy entrepreneurship — I started doing those things years ago and then began teaching about it in earnest back in 2019; it’s only really gained mainstream popularity this past year.)
- You feel a pull to do a task that wasn’t on your schedule for today. The original task you were going to do feels “off,” or something isn’t quite right about it. So you follow the pull and do that other task instead. (Often, you might discover the next day that BECAUSE you did this other task first, now that original task is 10x easier or it doesn’t need to happen at all anymore.)
- You have a choice between hiring two mentors, and one of them excites you but it’s almost like an overstimulation — whereas the other mentor feels more stable, nourishing, and safe, so you choose them. (And you find out later that the other mentor’s approach wouldn’t have meshed well at all with your personality.)
- Even though you spent hours building out a big complicated strategy or plan — and even though it’s really cool! — you’re still feeling resistance to it. It’s a great strategy, but something about it isn’t quite right. So you set it aside and create a different, more aligned strategy instead. (Two years later, you use several pieces of your original strategy as the final “pieces of the puzzle” to a project that you’re doing! The full strategy wasn’t a good fit, but the act of mapping out that strategy was very useful.)
- You’re walking down the street, and change your mind at the last second to go down a different route than you’d intended — something about that original route feels “off.” (And while you’re walking down your new route, something catches your eye and sparks a FANTASTIC idea for the book you’re writing, which might never have happened if you’d walked the other way.)
These are just a few examples of intuitive thinking! There are many other examples we could go over, but hopefully this gives you a sense of the various ways intuition might show up for you, what intuition is all about, and how intuition can be helpful for you (in your everyday life, in the big decisions you make, and in your own personal growth).
Am I overthinking or is it intuition?
This is the million dollar question, and THIS is another key reason why it’s so important to flex your intuitive muscle and develop that skill!
There is a very big difference between overthinking or negative self talk vs your intuition. However, that negative voice in your head likes to masquerade as your intuition. It’s VERY sneaky that way!
Watch the on-demand How to Activate Your Intuition masterclass to learn how to differentiate between your intuition vs negative self talk or overthinking, and how to build your intuitive muscle:
The How to Activate Your Intuition masterclass features 12+ transformative thought exercises and mindset work so you can change your mindset AND your behaviour.
Why is intuition so powerful?
There are several reasons why intuition is so powerful:
- It helps you to more easily make the best-for-you decisions at this point in time.
- It prevents you from making mistakes or going too far down the wrong-for-you path in life.
- It gives you clarity and focus with the choices you make in life.
- It improves your self trust, self honesty, and self leadership.
- It increases your motivation and drive (which also makes it easier for you to take action — and experience better progress — on your goals).
You never want to be that person who looks around one day and says, “How did I get here? What made me become this person that I am today? I’ve made a big mistake!”
The person who says things like that is a person who has neglected or ignored their intuition.
The person who says things like that is a person who is not making active and intentional choices for themselves in their own life.
…but if you ARE that person right now, it’s important to know that **you can still make a change**. There’s still time to get onto the right-for-you path!
The person who recognizes that they are not on the path they WANT to be on can ALWAYS still learn to tap into their intuition at THIS stage, and get on the track that fulfills them.
The person who recognizes that they are not on the path they WANT to be on then needs to be willing to take the leap of learning to strengthen their intuition and become that active participant in their own life.
Does it take courage to tap into your intuition? Yes!
Do you have the ability to cultivate that courage? YES.
→ You have the capacity to learn how to listen more deeply to your intuition.
→ You have the strength within you to heed your intuition and act upon it.
…And this is something you can learn in my (free!) Intuition Activated masterclass, or you can fast-track your intuitive experience with personal fulfillment coaching:
Those are two of your BEST options for how to change mindset and behaviour for personal development, self improvement, and personal growth!
