Business Intuition
October 2008, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC (Master Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com
Last month I wrote about the edge you have, as a small business owner, when you can bring intuition into your decision making skills. Many of us regularly tap into our intuition for our clinical work. But do you use your intuition for your business development? If not, please read on.
Intuition is that most natural of skills that helped us survive as early humans on the savannah and was relegated to our unconscious mind during our further evolution as a species. The primary task for us now, at this stage of evolution, is to bring our intuition forward, to make it more conscious. With intention and practice, we can access intuition with consistency and interpret the information it provides accurately.
Having a reliable way to tap into your intuition gives you an added tool as you determine your business direction. You can use it for daily decisions as well as for future visioning and long-term plans. I call this type of intuitive process my Intuitive Business Coach, and I rely on this part of me to help me spot opportunities and avoid potential missteps. It is one of the ways I can stay calm in the midst of crisis, because I can tap into this ?inner wisdom? and then add its voice to the data and information I have, to make informed decisions.
Today, given the precarious and uncertain economic future we face, I want you to have a full toolkit of strategies and capabilities to keep your practice viable. Using intuition for business purposes adds another layer of insight to your more conscious and rational planning.
Because this is a skill most of us use unconsciously, the main task is to find ways to practice decoding your intuition, so that you can notice the signals you are getting and interpret them.
?There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.? (Meredith Self)
Here?s a next step to decode your intuition and practice using it as a resource for your business problems.
1) Last month I referenced Daniel Cappon?s article: ?The Anatomy of Intuition.? To read this article click here. Note his list of 20 characteristics of intuition. Which characteristics do you most commonly use and which are foreign to your awareness?
2) Now think about the problems you are currently facing in your private practice and make a list of them in writing, in a notebook. Perhaps you need more clients. Maybe you are out of ideas about how and where to find them. You might have too much business and be troubled in how to get better organized to handle it. You might be struggling with setting good financial boundaries. Perhaps you are wondering if you can really you?re your dependency on insurance. Maybe you are having problems with staff. Whatever the problems are, list them in writing, one by one.
3) Find a 30 minute window of time to sit quietly without interruptions. Clear your mind, breath easily and get ready to ask your Intuitive Business Coach some questions. Record any and all internal responses in the notebook, even if they seem nonsensical. Suspend all judgment. (Remember: Intuition appears much like other unconscious material ? as free associations in the form of visual, auditory, or sensory impressions. As you do this exercise, you may have no noticeable responses. No problem, its like trying to remember dreams. It may take a while for this part of you to wake up and respond.)
?Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.? (Dr.Seuss)
Here are the questions to ask yourself in regards to each business problem (fo through all 4 questions specific to one problem at a time.) The questions correspond with a Cappon Intuitive Characteristic (CIC.)
CIC: Negative perceptual discrimination.
Question to Intuitive self: ?What am I not seeing about this problem??
CIC: Synthesis.
Question to Intuitive self: ?What is the big picture??
CIC: Foresight.
Questions to Intuitive self: ?What action could I take to resolve this problem? What do I need to know about taking this action? What do I need to be open to or watch out for? Is there anything else I should know??
CIC: Seeing the meaning of things.
Question to Intuitive self: ?What symbol can you give me to represent this solution??
Record any and all thoughts, pictures, impressions. Next time I will show you how to interpret what you have recorded. If you like to play with your deeper self this way, please join me for my new teleclass!