Insights for Savvy Entrepreneurs

Issue #6

February 7, 2003

Claudette Rowley
MetaVoice Coaching & Consulting

Dear Friends:

I want to welcome our new subscribers! You, the subscribers, help to make this newsletter what it is, and I greatly appreciate your comments and feedback.

For your reading pleasure, I have a series of articles now available by autoresponder. I'm placing the same articles directly on my website in the near future. To view the article list, simply send an e-mail to articles@metavoice.org. For those of you who publish newsletters or e-zines, these articles are also available for free reprint in online or print media.

Best wishes for a wonderful February!

Claudette

Insight of the Month

Intuition: The Entrepreneur's Secret Weapon

I remember the first time a boss asked me, "What's your gut feeling?" Before I was a coach, I was a social worker, at the time employed by the state of Idaho in the child protective services department. This was the first time someone had asked me to include my "gut" or intuition in my decision making process. As I began to use my intuition, I noticed that it was usually dead-on right. My intuition allowed me to know things that my rational mind couldn't.

As an entrepreneur, your intuition is your secret weapon. Entrepreneurship requires risk taking, not to mention frequent forays into the unruly jungle of the unknown. Not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from, putting your ideas out into the world, and facing "make it or break it" decisions on a regular basis are all situations entrepreneurs face. Developing your intuition is critical to your entrepreneurial success. Sometimes it's all you've got.

What is intuition?

Intuition is simply knowing something without knowing exactly how you know it. In other words, intuition is a form of inner guidance. Connect back to a time that you had a "gut feeling" about something - the job that you knew you shouldn't take, even though it looked good on the surface, or a relationship that just felt right for you. That's your intuition talking to you.

When I talk about intuition, clients often ask, "How do I tell the difference between my intuition and the other voices in my head?" Often the "other voices" are the loud-mouthed opinions of the inner critic. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term "inner critic", it's the voice that says "What a stupid idea. No one is going to take you seriously." Or "You just made the biggest fool of yourself. Now everyone will know that you are a fraud." In contrast, intuition feels like a gentle internal nudge. It doesn't feel bad because it's not based in fear or judgment.

How do I hone my intuition?

Listen, practice and trust. Because intuition is largely intangible - it can't be seen, felt or heard in a concrete sense - it works better when you trust it. Intuition and your faith in it are closely tied together. You must first trust your intuition before you see the results of it in your life. So often, we want guarantees or tangible evidence before we trust. Believe me, once you start incorporating your intuition into your business and personal life, you'll never go back! It's one of the most valuable skills in an entrepreneur's tool kit. We all have it, and many of us even hear its message, and still we dismiss it. How many times have you thought, "Something kept telling me that was the wrong decision to make. But I made it anyway because intellectually it made sense."

How might I notice my intuition trying to get my attention?

• Body signals - Your body gives you a tremendous amount of useful, intuitive information. For example, when your mother-in-law visits, does your stomach tie up in knots? When you feel passionate and alive, does your chest feel warm and open? Body signals offer us valuable information designed to let us know what works for us and what doesn't.

• "The Gut"- Some people do feel their intuition in their physical gut. When I first started coaching and learning to access my intuition fully, I'd picture a string connecting my heart to my abdomen as a way to connect with my intuition.

• Pictures in your mind's eye - Sometimes, I see an image in my mind's eye that is an intuitive message.

• Dreams - The week after my son's birth, I had a difficult decision to make. One night, the lyrics to the song "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young appeared in my dream, reminding me that the intention with which I make a decision is far more important than the decision itself.

• Energy - Many of my clients use their energy levels as intuitive cues. If your energy spikes at the thought of one choice, while it plummets when you contemplate another, the decision is clear.

• Just as a feeling, a hunch - a more generalized feeling that one choice is better than the other. Sometimes for me it feels like an internal tug.

The next time you have an important business decision to make notice the part that your intuition plays. Do you use it and not even recognize it? Do you hear its message and ignore it? At your next set of crossroads, I challenge you to listen to your intuition, trust it and follow it. After all, trusting your intuition is simply another form of trusting yourself.

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Now It’s Your Turn

• The next time you need to make a decision, check in with your intuition. Experiment with trusting it. When you follow your intuition, what happens? When you hear it and disregard it, what's the outcome?

• Notice the messages your body is giving you right now. Try a self-massage to find areas in your back, neck or shoulders that are tense or knotted. What other areas of your body feel tight? Which ones feel relaxed and loose? Use this information as another key to listening to your intuition.

• To learn more about intuition and its role in successful entrepreneurship, contact me today for an introductory coaching session!

MetaVoice News

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Order right now by clicking http://www.metavoice.org/book and I'll send your free report "Five Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles".

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