I make a lot of decisions using intuition, which researchers are beginning to understand as more reliable, and less mystical than previously thought. Intuition is really about pattern recognition, about subconsciously picking up on conflicting patterns in a situation. One of the more discussed examples of intuitive decision making has to do with a fire chief who, shortly after entering a burning house, commanded all his men leave the house immediately without really understanding why. He said the decision came from his gut, that “something wasn’t right” and he wanted his men out of the house.
That decision saved the lives of his men, as seconds after exiting the house the floor collapsed. If they’d have stayed in the house, everybody would have been killed.
When interviewed about his decision, the fire chief couldn’t explain his decision logically. Some of the men under his command attributed the command to a higher force, a sort of guardian angel. But guardian angel or not, by design our brains work to protect us from making mistakes, and often we have no explanation as to why.
On further investigation, several things were happening in that fire that worked to inform the fire chief’s subconscious. The first was that the firemen already on the seen had been pouring water into the kitchen, where the fire was supposedly focussed. With a normal fire, this would have solved the problem and put out the fire. But in this case, no amount of water helped. The second oddity that fed the fire chief’s subconscious is that the fire was unusually quiet. Fires normally rage and they are loud. But when entering the house, the fire wasn’t making a sound that aligned with what the fire chief was seeing.
Without knowing it, the chief subconsciously understood something really basic, and that’s that he didn’t understand what was happening. And because he didn’t understand, he knew his men could be in danger. By commanding the evacuation, he was pulling his men from a situation in which he did not know how to guide them, protect them, or solve the problem of the fire.
What was really happening in the house was that the fire was not in the kitchen, it was just burning up through the kitchen. The fire was actually raging in the basement, burning the underside of the wood floors. This would not be understood until later.
All this to say, as leaders, intuition matters. But we should also understand, perhaps in hindsight, why we are feeling cautious about a situation. Here are some tips on better using intuition:
1. When something seems wrong, back off and use caution.
2. Look for conflicts in patterns. If you’re wanting to hire somebody but they’ve been through three jobs in the last two years, there is a pattern conflict. A person who is dependable and productive should be able to keep a job longer than a few months. Inquire as to why their pattern is in conflict with their ambition to hold a job.
3. If you suspect something is amiss in a situation, don’t interrogate whoever you suspect too soon. Wait and watch and try to understand why your intuition is sending alarm signals. Once you identify some problems in patterns, sit down with the person you’re dealing with and ask them to explain the pattern conflicts.
How about you? How do you use intuition in your decision making process?
This reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s blink and what he calls “thin slicing.” Yep, we all do it.
The one thing I’d add is that I think some people may kind their sense of intuition skewed by growing up in abusive or weird family contexts. I wonder if having to develop survivor instincts can create a filter that skews this reflex.
Um, yes.
I’m so glad I read this post. It was so good for me. I didn’t grow up in a bad environment, but unfortunately I chose to marry into one.
For ten years I went against my gut, so one, I was anxious, depressed, and going insane, but also now, I have a really hard time reading/trusting my gut now.
I told myself for years to ignore my gut or was told my gut was wrong or crazy, so it has taken 3 years to have God untwist the twisted. And it still isn’t comlpetely righted.
I spent 10 years (as an adult!) in this environment after growing up in a wonderful home, so I can only imagine what a young child would experience growing up and being taught or learning terrible instincts and how long it would take for them to be able to trust their gut.
Thanks Larry! I needed to hear some validation in this area…more than you know.
This brings to mind Luke 1.13 …it seemed good to me. Beth Moore preached on this verse. Really giving us his mindset. I always kept that with me. Thanks for this also,
I find it incredibly ironic that I just posted a blog about both Donald Miller and Malcolm Gladwell and then I came to read Don’s latest post and guess what? Thought the same thing just by reading the title. While I wrote about Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, I am actually currently reading (and about 1/3 into) Blink. Wow!
Recently, I have been spot-on without any real reason about people who didn’t even know they were pregnant (we’re talking 5 months pregnant) expecting, people who were seemingly good suddenly feeling “bad” to me, just before doing bad things, etc. I suffer from anxiety as the result of a traumatic childhood and I never speak with grief or regret about that childhood? Why? Well, two reasons. One is that it strengthened my faith in God, because at times he, and my teddy bear, Ted Edward Bear, were the only two “people” I had to talk to, so that’s what I did. We adults call it prayer. Second, that anxiety has strengthened what we often refer to as gut instinct in our society- the ability to have strong emotional associations and analyze situations in great detail thanks to a need to anticipate the next emergency situation I would find myself in throughout my childhood.
Thanks for writing about this Mr. Miller and Larry for sharing, while I think it does “skew” the reflex, perhaps in some it hones it further, rather than creating more skepticism, etc.
Sometimes my intuition is mistaken….so I don’t feel like I can trust it all of the time. Are you saying true intuition, the kind that you can base decisions on, is always correct and trustworthy?
Practice. Practice. Practice. Keep a journal and look back to learn where it works and doesn’t. You might be surprised how often. Your intuition colored by your human experience will get sharper when it’s informed by letting God in… Listening Prayer is key. Like all disciplines, some parts come easy and some take a lifetime. The journalling will give you clues as you ask for and follow God’s leadings.
I lead a weekly group of teen girls. Sometimes the craziest stuff comes out of their mouths. My head might tell me this kid is being rude or disrespectful or whatever, but my gut usually tells me there’s so much more under the surface. Or sometimes just the opposite: they say they are fine but my gut tells me otherwise. Either way, the wait and watch closely approach is usually a good one. Eventually we can work on the issues.
This is such a good thing to keep in mind – it’s easy to jump to conclusions about people, especially teens. I’ve had many times where I’ve been flustered or upset with someone and later found out that they had some awful things going on in their lives.
Thanks for sharing.
Sometimes intuition comes along in a difficult situation, it may arise but most of the time i didn’t mind it that lead to destruction as you mention it to your post. Some cases that i ignore that leads to more undesirable results.
Decision making is one of those things that everyone needs to be careful about. If you make a hasty decision something bad could happen that was not planned for. People need to think ahead, but also to do what is smart in the moment. I think using intuition is the best way to make a decision because it comes from a subconscious part of the brain that wants to keep you safe. I like this post a lot because it really touches on the fact that people should go with their gut instinct to make the proper decision.
As a woman and a parent the first thing that comes to mind is safety. I rely on “my gut” to alert me to potentially dangerous situations/people. My 3 year old daughter has lots of very curly hair, a big smile and a need to wave at everyone she sees. This tends to attract attention. Most of the time when people respond to her I think its great but occasionally I get this unexplainable creepy feeling and politely but quickly move away. Paranoid? Maybe. I’m still going to trust my intuition just in case.
Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing.
Don,
Intuition and it’s role in our life has recently been on my mind a lot. Thanks for sharing a few of your thoughts on the subject. Has there been anything in particular that you’ve read that helped in better understanding your intuition?
BTW – really enjoyed Storyline!
Brian
Great post! The image really caught my attention and I wondered how a burning building could possibly be about intuition. I get it now! I have recently talked with our youth group about following a kind of gut instinct. We discussed how the Holy Spirit directs us to do different things or approach different people. We discussed how it may seem completely out of place or dumb at the time but when we follow through we see that it was God’s leading. Perhaps this was some sort of guardian angel in the story above (I am surprisingly skeptical when it comes to supernatural happenings but I just cannot help hoping that the idea of a guardian angel is true!).
I used intuition when trying to find a new ministry. I had sent out my resume and philosophy of ministry and even had a few phone interviews. One interview I had went REALLY well. There was one hang up though, they have had 7 youth ministers in the last 3 years! Did I want to be 8 by 3 1/2 years? This was a huge red flag even though everything else in the interview went so well! So I continued searching. Turns out they never got back to me even though they said they would (not even to say they were going in a different direction) and I found a place that I love.
A couple of my favorite books addressing this space are Gladwell’s Blink and Duggan’s Napoleon’s Glance (although I don’t agree with everything these authors have proposed).
I think the biggest trick with this is being able to be as aware of our biases (also informed by priors) as our intuition.
For instance, if we hear that something is 99.9% non-fatal (say, eating a whole bag of baby carrots), we feel that this is quite safe, and we may take action on a risk that small. However, if we hear the same exact phenomena has killed 1,000 people in Houston and will kill up to 1,000 more, we think the risk is huge.
Even though the risk is the same. So our intuition might tell us one thing, and our bias something else.
In the end, I suppose I classify ‘intuition’ as ‘recent experience-based emotion’. But it is still a tricky issue for me. For instance, how do I measure my Type I and II errors, i.e. am I revising my priors too fast or too slow?
Wow, perfect post for today. Although my intuition isn’t super strong my wife’s is amazing….and close to 100% accurate. I’m learning to trust my “gut” more often….when I don’t I usually pay a large price.
What we have for a long time called intuition, recent neuroscience is suggesting is something like super-high speed brain processing, faster than can occur at the conscious level. Studies involve, for example in problem-solving experiments, flashing images on a screen too briefly to be recognized consciously which images provide solutions or important parts of solutions to the problems. Subjects solve the problems quickly with a degree of accruacy that strongly suggests brain processing below the conscious level. Such “intuition” is not at all like emotion-based decision making (the “it feels right to me” sorts of views). The example of the fire chief is perhaps such an example of high-speed brain processing below the conscious level.
Recent books I read, parts of which deal with some of this (all written for a generally educated person, not for neuroscientists): Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja, Naturally Selected: The Evolutionary Science of Leadership (New York: Harper Collins, 2011); Alina Tugend, Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong (New York: Riverhead Books, 2011); Max H. Bazerman & Ann E. Tenbrunsel, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do About It (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011); Srinivasan S. Pillay, Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders (Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press, 2011); Akst, Daniel, We Have Met The Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess (New York: The Penguin Press, 2011).
Thanks for your input Eric.
Which of the above texts (or those mentioned in others’ comments, ie. Blink) would you say would most help me in understanding how to respond to my own intuition in the clutch decision making moment?
Thank you.
Garret
Interesting example of a tricky subject. One comment above references the Holy Spirit’s guiding. What’s the difference between a God-prod and intuition? Seems easy to over-spiritualize the idea.
I felt wrong about a thing, acted on my gut (or spirit’s moving, depending on my point of view that day), and was vindicated (or not). Just because I decided to not walk down the dark alley and didn’t get mugged doesn’t mean that I would have gotten mugged there. Or when I do walk down the dark alley and not get mugged, it doesn’t mean it was a good idea.
I heard once that the best a human can hope for is MIXED motivation. I interpolate that in my intuition as well. I get strong feelings, and acting on them has served me well. But not consistently. Hmmm. Tricky subject for me. My intuition tells me I’ll never resolve this. Not in this life.
I am learning more to trust my gut and the things that don’t seem to make sense. I always want to be able to explain the reason why or have answers but I am seeing that continually trusting my gut is the right decision.
I like the advice to wait. I’ve always considered my own intuition to be my slow brain catching up with my quick sense. I will often have a terrible gut feeling, a depression or anxiety – without seeing the direct cause. I’ve finally learned to say, “I feel terrible, but I don’t know why yet.” It will always emerge if I wait.
Feeling and reason can sometimes be out of sync – one ahead of the other. We call the feeling-first-without-complete-understanding, “intuition”. Does that mean that there is an opposite — the understanding-first-without-complete-feeling? If so, what’s it called?
“Common Sense”?
Also – I like to picture my intuition and my guardian angel to be one and the same.
I use intuition all the time. I think most people do. That’s not to say I’m always right at all, but I have had to learn to trust my intuition when for a long time my education taught me that it was not good or wise to trust or rely on something which was not based on rational facts.
More recently a friend spent the best part of a year being told his instinct about a situation was wrong, only to be proved right, which was in a way both deeply frustrating for him, a little hurtful and perhaps also strangely affirming…
Two times in my career I have ignored my intuition to not hire someone, and I regretted it each time. Both times I rationalized away what my intuition was telling me, that neither person was right for the job. But I had nothing solid on which to base that conclusion. One turned out to be the worst hire I have ever made, and when I tell the story to other hiring managers, they say the story is unbelievable. The other nearly sued me for wrongful termination.
I can remember one other time when I listened to my intuition. Fifteen years ago, I went to dinner with a woman I worked with. Toward the end of the evening, she leaned over to kiss me, and I realized then that she was the woman I would one day marry, even though we weren’t even dating. It was just my gut (no, it was God) telling me that she was the one for me. We’re still married and have two beautiful children.
Someone above wondered if intuition could be sort of “tampered with” by a traumatic childhood. I tend to wonder the same thing, or wonder if one’s intuition can be thrown out of whack by repetitive incorrect teaching aborbed over time as well. And if this is the case, is it possible to “retrain” one’s intuition?
I’m not sure the answer of intuition being ‘tampered with’, but from experience, I grew up with an alcoholic father – and having read a lot about the effects of growing up with alcoholic parents in the past couple of years, discovered I have better intuition, especially when it comes to understanding others than I thought I did. Growing up, I had to intuitively understand what my dad wanted from me, or what he was feeling, because his ability to express what he wanted from me or what he was feeling was impaired by alcohol – and I’d risk an outburst from him if I didn’t understand what he wanted (which again, he wasn’t able to express, at least very well.) Reading about it helped me understand that I’d actually learned some very helpful skills from those traumatic experiences, and encouraged me to trust my intuition more than I’d let myself in the past. If anything, in my case I felt more like I’d learned NOT to trust my intuition in my dysfunctional family (because sometimes I’d still get an outburst even though I tried my hardest to do what my dad wanted) and have re-learned to trust it in adulthood: discovering that when I trust my intuition in healthy relationships people are blessed and feel known or cared for. Though, there is also the tendency to not be able to judge who the ‘safe’ people are – for a long time I wasn’t able to notice the influence of alcohol on anyone (unless they were extremely drunk), because I’d trained myself to overlook it in my father. So, I suppose all that to say, it probably goes both ways: traumatic experiences can help and hinder our sense of intuition…
You know, for a long time I interpreted my gut as fear…something to overcome. I didn’t allow myself to trust it.
I liked reading your comment…it was so helpful and validating to me. When in an unhealthy relationship so much works backwards and once one gets out maybe we do learn we know more than we think we do or ever told we did.
As crazy as this sounds, my heart beats faster when my intuition comes into play. I have come to recognize and trust that signal and the ensuing feelings in moments where I need a quick “sizing up” of a situation, positive or negative.
Great post. Thanks for giving me something to think about.
I became ill 10 years ago. I became very slowed down in my ability to process information quickly for many months. I began to notice these patterns you speak about here. We would all be more readily able to see them I think, if we were not moving at such a fast pace. Maybe the definition of intuition would change if we slowed down. Possibly we just move too fast!?
As well, as I have become more intentional to retrain myself to listen…I find my intuition has become more adamant to insure it is distinguished.
I have been struggling a lot recently with trying to figure out God’s will in my life. I think I spend far too much time worrying about it and not enough time acting. When we make the commitment to act and put a deadline on our decision-making, we pressure ourselves into relying more and more on intuition. And I always find that when I am busy and forced to use my intuition more, I feel closer to God.
when given time, it is always wise to “Test and Approve” God’s will – this is based on wise counsel, history, factual info, prayer, circumstance. When not given time, we have to trust something, and our intuition is often right. If we are living as followers of God, our intuition can be more closely aligned with Him and therefore, more trustworthy. If we are far from God, it may be less likely we are able to decide on our own power – but often I ask myself, what is the worst case scenario? In this Firefighter’s case, the worst case scenario is they lose the house…which seemed to be happening anyway. Great dialogue, as always Don.
As a rule, I try and always remind myself that I can trust my initial feelings about something. While I enjoy discussing things with my close friends and family, I usually end up holding true to what I felt in the beginning. This comes up often when I am deciding whether or not to date someone. It may be fun to talk it over with a friend, and there is nothing wrong with that, but in the end, what really matters is what my initial reaction was to this person. Chances are, I’ve had the right answer all along.
I agree with intuition being a gut feeling that can be trusted. I work in a school system. We had set up a special behavior program for a child and someone wanted to fade it out. She had great reasons to stop and I had some good reasons to continue, but what it came down to was I had a gut feeling we needed to continue. The decision was supposed to be data driven but for some reason they listened to me. The outcome was good. I dont know if it would have been any different the other way. I have no data to prove it. But it was a successful conclusion to the program. Also… on a little lighter side… my dog Macy is a yellow lab puppy. When I take her on walks she is freindly and happy most of the time. Sometimes she stops and sits in front of me a soft growl resonating from her throat till a person passes by… I trust her intuition. I also trust God who gives me discernment sometimes with clear and concise information and other times just by a nudge in my spirit to obey His lead.
Intuition is fascinating, and I’m glad you posted about it because it is important that we think about it. I’ve come to realize recently that not everyone’s intuition is the same, and that this can lead to conflict.
For example, I might immediately ‘see’ a way of doing something, while the person with whom I am working will ‘see’ another way just as quickly and strongly. In these circumstances communication is needed or misunderstandings can develop out of the smallest things. Sometimes it is more than misunderstandings; have you ever tried to move a heavy piece of furniture with someone? One of several things can happen (or combinations): if intuitions match, or communication happens, or one person is a much stronger leader, things go smoothly. If intuitions are out of sync, likely the furniture won’t be moved! Even a leader with strong intuition must consider the ‘gut feeling’ of others.
It seems there is a complex relationship between intuition, leadership, and communication. Thanks for helping me think about this!
Moving furniture is a PERFECT example of this. Nice!
As many of us are familiar with, the book of Proverbs has much to say on the topic of wisdom. I was reading chapter two, yesterday–verse six made an impresssion on me like it never has before: “The Lord stores up wisdom for the upright…” I grew up reading these chapters on a daily basis. I am amazed how fresh and timely they remain.
I’m thinking that God gives us wisdom if we ask Him to. It’s there for us, ready to be dispersed. I agree, He made our bodies to have a wisdom of its own. So maybe intuition is a built-in mechanism that is unique to each one of us. A great match might be intuition combined with a heart that seeks after God, wanting to do what He wants them to do, in life situations.
Even in moments of crisis, God leads and guides us–sometimes unawares.
“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Likewise, in our world, intuition appears to be “really about pattern recognition, about subconsciously picking up on conflicting patterns in a situation.” However, because we’re made up of the breath of God, I think there’s so much more to us and intuition and stars, etc.
Well said. By the way, nice blog–made a little segue to check it out.
Thanks Liz. I love that quote.
Dang it, I’ve had three jobs in the last 2 years. Well I’ll just blame the economy not my character.
I’ll just blame my disability. And then I’ll go away and not bother Mr. Miller anymore, just like he wants.
For Christ-followers, we do have an added Counselor, Helper – the Holy Spirit. He uses our intuition when it’s working, but He always reminds us of Jesus’ words, teachings, and lifestyle (if we have those in our minds and hearts). I think the greatest thing our gut does is to “give us pause,” and help us just to wait on God for clarification. When we are in the middle of a chaotic experience, a time of desperate temptation, the practice of “hiding His word in our hearts” is a priceless resource for our mindful intuition.
A fascinating read about intuition is found in “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin Debekker. For me, this book completely changed the way I process information intuitively – I pay attention better, trust and act more quickly. I also dismiss information that is NOT helpful (but perhaps causing me to fear) ie. CNN. For the folks who have commented about how a less than ideal childhood influences your intuition, I expecially recommend this book. I am less afraid, but I act on real threats to my safety quickly instead of being paralyzed by doubt. The book is not written from a Christian perspective, but throughout the pages I found myself thanking God for making our brains remarkably capable (perhaps a better test of a biblical worldview- read!!). I’d love to talk about it more with anyone who might have also read this book! Thanks for the thought-provoking post.
I’m not sure if you’ve taken the Myers-Briggs test, but I think the results one gets account for the way one makes decisions. I’m guessing you could be a ENTP or ENFP. (I’m the first one, Extrovert, Intuitive, Thing, Perceiving)…however out of 30 possible points for intuitive….I get all 30.
Plenty of times I can tell people what they’re thinking before they use any words. (usually I don’t..it freaks people out.)
For people who don’t have this tendency, it may seem like extra sensory perceptive (ESP), clairvoyance, something weird/mystical, or even (mistakenly) spiritual…(well, it could have something to do with it. But it sort of gets too much credit.) Really, though I think our brains take in data and stimuli differently. My brain chunks up the information cloud, as it were, and maybe other pull it in like a scrolling news ticker.
One thing I know:
If I don’t “go with my gut” (even when I don’t seem to have enough proof to comfort others in my decision making process) then, I go wrong.
The worst, and most misguided decisions I’ve made were when I ignored that gut feeling. Rather than make it sound ify or like a hunch, which seems too too doo…..
I’d like to call it “my knowing spot”
Enjoyable piece to read. thank you.
ENTP should say “thinking” ..not “thing” …autocorrect.. woes. ugh
I have always been pretty intuitive re: the guys I date. Often I get a gut feeling pretty early on or see something that is not ideal, but due to the fact that I have been accused of being “too quick to judge,” I attempt to ride the wave and see if my gut feeling actually holds water. Now you might say that I have simply set myself up for a self-fulfilling prophecy, but more often than not, tangible evidence arises to substantiate my original intuition.
Intuition is powerful and should not be ignored. And for now, I’ll be single until intuition and action align
I work in ministry and recently got to thinking about my motives for being where I’m at and how I made the decision to come here. On the surface, it started to feel like work, which made me wonder if deep down I didn’t really want to be here. But I came to realize that even though sometimes I wake up and go back to the grindstone, it doesn’t mean I’m completely disinterested – it’s just the nature of doing difficult things. The Bible makes no promises that the work will be appealing. Deep down, I really am interested in the mission at hand. I make a lot of decisions based on gut reactions – including the one that got me here. I think that’s a deeper version of intuition – you hold some feelings and beliefs on levels that you might not recognize.
My wife and I talk a lot about “trusting our gut” in decision-making. I think a lot of Christians cop-out on “if it’s God’s will” . God equipped my family to be forward-moving individuals. Why would He screw up what He created by confusing us? I’m fairly certain that I know more scripture as well or better than most folks in my age-group and profession, and as I’ve read about Paul and other folks in those stories, they didn’t wait to see what was going to happen. I’ve had 3 years of consulting, unemployment, and contracting work in my pajamas. We can be certain that God has written our stories out, but we need to be willing to play our part in the larger piece.
In the past year I’ve learned about “energy types” in people, and it is instinctive for some people to be very, very quick processors and able to make decisions faster that others. (often so fast that they can appear to be a little flaky or unpredictable to others, because the others haven’t caught up to what they’re thinking yet) Other types are more strategic, or more methodical, or more exacting, etc. We aren’t all wired the same. So while I do think that everyone has access to intuition, I think it is more powerful if people understand their own true nature, and learn how to operate most effectively within that. A good book on the subject is It’s Just My Nature by Carol Tuttle. http://www.amazon.com/Its-Just-Nature-Carol-Tuttle/dp/0978543696/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317826205&sr=8-1
I loved reading Geoffrey Colvin’s “What It Takes To Be Great” (Fortune Magazine, 2006) especially when he states your lack of a natural gift is irrelevant – talent [or intuition] has little or nothing to do with greatness.
My favorite example of this is the “Hero of the Hudson” He was the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549 saved every passenger with miracle landing. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger successfully ditched his US Airways flight into the Hudson River because he was able to quickly recall from his subconscious (i.e., Long Term Memory (LTM)) what needed to be done to solve the problem… and not some natural talent. Same is true for Don’s fire chief realizing that something was different.
Also check out Anders Ericsson’s “The Making Of An Expert” (Harvard Business Review, 2007) he discusses the work of Benjamin Bloom’s 1985 book, Developing Talent in Young People which looks at 120 childhoods of elite performers, e.g., music, arts, mathematics, etc. Here is a quote from the article:
“Surprisingly, Bloom’s work found no early indicators that could have predicted the virtuosos’ success. Subsequent research indicating that there is no correlation between IQ and expert performance in fields such as chess, music, sports, and medicine has borne out his findings. The only innate differences that turn out to be significant—and they matter primarily in sports—are height and body size. So what does correlate with success? One thing emerges very clearly from Bloom’s work. All the superb performers he investigated had:
*Practiced intensively
*Studied with devoted teachers
*Supported enthusiastically by their families throughout their developing years
Later research building on Bloom’s pioneering study revealed that the amount and quality of practice were key factors in the level of expertise people achieved.”
To make a long reply shorter… it takes practice to develop your intuition.
Hey Don! Great story and would love to use it in a lecture. Can you source it?
This could not have come at a better time. I’m in the process of making a huge decision for the ministry I oversee. I was given an ultimatum and for some reason, my “gut” kept telling me to respond in a way that I did not think was right. Having sought time with my mentor I asked for wisdom and interestingly enough, my mentor came up with the exact same solution without my suggesting it! But again I was sitting in a haze of indecision and then I read your blog. THANK YOU, this truly spoke to me and helped me understand where my “gut” was telling me to do. I loved how you laid out what your subconscious does in reaction to dealing with variables that aren’t obvious. This has helped stand by a much needed decision and unfortunately a very tough talk ahead. But thanks again.
I saw this article online the other day. It talks about how most believers have a natural intuition that calls them to believe. People of faith are naturally decisive, and make up their minds quickly. I think it’s an interesting theory, but I would disagree slightly. For me, faith is something that helps me to explain the unexplainable. There are questions in life that don’t have answers and that’s what calls me to believe there must be a higher power. Science can’t prove everything. God can. I have faith because I don’t need tangible evidence to prove to me that God exists. I know in my heart that He does. Call it intuition if you will
http://news.yahoo.com/belief-god-boils-down-gut-feeling-104403461.html
I think intuition is something that you should be aware of. If you are not aware of it, I’m guessing that you are not being present in your life. If you are numb and going through the motions of life, your intuition is also numbed. It is something that you need to learn to listen to and trust. Learning takes time, so be kind to yourself along the way. It is, just one more beautiful thing that makes life great.
[...] balance, out of whack. And then you realize, the fire is too quiet. (Please make the jump and read Donald Miller’s post: How Should We Use Intuition in Decision Making? I promise this post and word picture help you better understand intuition and decision making. [...]
Thanks don, I have always been a firm believer in our instinct and my comment comes from reflecting on our instincts within relationships. One thing I have found to be true about myself is that we use our instincts to determine someone’s intent. The experiences from our childhood have developed a “lens” so to speak that we perceive the world through. Everyone views the world through their own lens and analyzes others actions based of their reality. We need to individually understand how that lens effects our instincts and allow God to heal the cracks in our lens so we can see past our own imperfect instincts and believe the truth in Gods promises to us.
I Hope that is relevant…
I just read ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell and his entire point is that we should trust this instinct known as “thin slicing.”
I wonder if this “this slicing” could also be the Spirit. John 14: 26 says, “6But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” I wonder if the Spirit talks to us and guides us so that we may live according to His will. So our “thin slicing” is actually us hearing the Spirit in us.
As I suspect is the case in many marriages, my wife is very intuitive whereas I often have a more logical approach. This works well because whenever a quick decision is needed (e.g. do I turn right or left!) I will almost always defer to her even if I think differently; however for decisions that I have more time to consider, I have learned to put more trust in my view. This is not 100% effective of course and we both operate both logically and intuitively at times, but is has had a surprisingly high track record in retrospect.
I don’t consider intuition to be ‘luck’ or ‘providence’, but rather an ability to draw upon dozens, maybe hundreds of connected facts and experiences to sense something when we don’t have ‘front of brain’ access to all that data or the time to logically analyse it.
I was once the kind of Christian who would refer to this as “God speaking”, but now I prefer to own the intuition myself and accept the responsibility if it is proven wrong.
Don is right. Testing intuition is key. As it says in Proverbs, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” When John Kennedy Jr. was flying that plane, he thought that up was down and down was up. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
I like this. It’s not logical and normally I love logical things, but intuition is a part of us. I think there are certain situations (like the fireman’s) where we are so familiar with our craft, those types of things come as second nature. And sometimes even trusting our intuition will never make sense to us. There has been a couple of situations where I trusted my intuition and to this day, I don’t know what would have happened if I went against it. But there has yet to be anything I’ve regretted not doing because of my intuition.
To me stepping out in faith, almost by definition, means that the reality of danger is present. But, it is stepping out in this same uncertainty and fear that honors God. And I also wonder whether or not “intuition,” if it is real, would always be a negative “don’t do this” because something bad will happen. In that case I guess it is like a Holy Spirit smoke alarm or something, which is not how I tend to usually live or view God and seems very strapped down. I would think if intuition is real, it would work even more in the sense of “I know you are afraid. But,do this, and I will show you how good I am.” I would listen to intuition as a fear, but be very careful.
I totally agree w/ the “science” behind what you are saying. I recently read a story about a soldier in Iraq who day after day patrolled the same neighborhood in Baghdad. He was a Lt. and a leader of a platoon. One day the article went he was walking the same patrol and something seemed wrong. There were no people in the street and no kids playing. He instinctively / intuitively new something was wrong..it was not a holiday or anything so he did not understand the situation. His instinct proved right. it ended up There were snipers in neighborhood and the protective measures he took as soon as he knew something was amiss help prevented casualties on his men.
[...] I mentioned last week that I made a difficult decision. Work related. The kind of decision that only makes sense when the fire is too quiet. The kind that has you jumping out blindly on faith. For provision. For [...]
I grew up in a twisted environment… every now and then I was told pretty bad advice and taught things a little backwards…like hit someone when they are down, have sex with men to make them like you, eat candy whenever you desire..stuff like that.
So, I don’t trust my intuition..? I trust sound advice and criticism… hence, why I read your posts!
Scene. Not seen. I’ve had 5 jobs in 5 years, is that better? All sniditude aside, I like what you said. Intuition is important.