I remember a time when I had to make a career decision. On paper, everything seemed clear: an exciting new position, a move to a new city, better pay, an appealing title. My head said: "Go for it! You'd be stupid not to." And yet there was this vague feeling, a kind of quiet unease in my stomach. No clear arguments against it, no comprehensible reasons to be concerned. Just a shy, quiet "no". I ignored it. Six months later, I was stuck in a job that wasn't just making me unhappy, but downright sick. The emotional stress, the working atmosphere, the company's values - everything felt "wrong". And I knew it from the start. I just didn't want to hear it.
Have you experienced something like this? I am sure you have. Maybe a customer or a business partner felt "weird". Maybe you entered a new relationship or friendship, and your gut was telling you "Something doesn't feel right." Maybe you made a decision in a flash that just felt very OK - without knowing exactly why.
Welcome to the fascinating realm of intuition!
Our modern world loves facts, logic, and analysis. Decisions have to be justified; plans have to make sense. But when we rely solely on our intellect, we sometimes overlook something essential: our inner voice. What feels like a mystery or like magic is actually based on science: Intuition is a deep form of knowledge, fed by our experience, unconscious perception and a wisdom that is older than our rational mind.
Research from psychology and neuroscience shows that intuition is not a product of chance. In his studies, the US psychologist Gary Klein found, that firefighters for example make intuitive decisions in the proverbial “heat of the moment” that turn out to be amazingly accurate. Why? Because their brain draws on a huge database of experience in a fraction of a second and presents the best solution. Our body remembers the emotion that was linked to this experience and sends signals, so-called "somatic markers", back to our brain. A queasy feeling or a pleasant tingling sensation, or something that feels like a knot in our stomach, for example. They help us to assess at lightning speed whether something is good or risky. “Somatic markers” are physiological responses that guide our decision-making – or, in other words, emotions that determine our reason. What this also tells us is that our brains are not compartmentalized into reason vs. emotion; they come as a whole!
When does intuition help and when doesn't it?
Here is one theory about the ying and the yang of listening to our intuition: In his book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", Daniel Kahneman describes two systems of thinking:
System 1: Fast, intuitive, automatic thinking.
It reacts immediately to stimuli, recognizes patterns and makes quick decisions without conscious effort.
System 2: Slow, analytical, conscious thinking.
It requires concentration, logical thinking and is needed for complex problems.
According to Kahneman, our intuition is a wise advisor in situations that are familiar to us and in which quick decisions are required. When our intuition is based on experience or (un)consciously learned patterns it seems to perform at its best. This seems to work particularly well for simple and routine decisions that do not require deep thought.
Our intuition tends, on the other hand, to not be our best guide when we find ourselves in complex or new situations, without or with little previous experience, or when our emotions, bias and unconscious prejudices seem to influence and even distort our decisions.
How to make it work? In the spirit of combining the best of both systems, Kahneman says that we have a great chance of making the best decisions when we learn how to consciously switch between fast and slow thinking as needed.
How can we strengthen our intuition?
We can compare our intuition with an advanced navigation system that can be honed and trained. The more we learn about a certain topic, the more dependable our intuition becomes in this area.
We can also strengthen our inner wisdom by paying attention to our body signals, to subtle reactions such as tension or relaxation when we are faced with a decision can literally pay off. They could be the result of our brain processing valuable experience that is stored in our “body’s memory” and that shows up dressed as a feeling - faster than we (or rather our brain) can think.
You might have noticed this too: lightbulb moments or "epiphanies" seem to occur when we are thinking about something else - for example, when we are in the shower or on a walk. Our quiet moments are often not so quiet at all, because our subconscious mind continues to work on autopilot. Knowing that, it is worth giving our brain a break and letting our inner algorithm do the processing. A consciously curated pause can make space for our intuition to thrive, show up and help us out.
Yes, I hear you. No doubt there is a gap between what science says and what we can do. Our fears, imprints from childhood and social expectations make us hesitant to trust our inner compass and act on it. Subsequently, at some point, many of us have stopped trusting our feelings (see deep-dive #7). Perhaps because we were told one too many times that we “are just imagining things” or “that we should think logically for once” or “that we cannot make a decision as important as this from our gut!” It can well be that in our past, our intuition was talked down, while our intellect was pushed to the forefront (see deep-dive #11). The result? We have secretly developed a mistrust for our own feelings and impulses. We have unlearned to follow our intuition. When we go back to learning how to follow it (again), we create opportunities that allow us to waste less energy on endless brooding and make decisions with more ease.
The shell of the nut:
Intuition is clever if we use it wisely. It is quiet, and yet powerful. Our intuition is the knowledge that we already have inside us, but that we sometimes don't take seriously enough. It is the result of our brain performing a high-speed analysis of data that is stored in our cells and in our body (see deep-dive #9) without bothering with complicated calculations. Instead, it gives us an instant, ready-to-use kind of "yes" or "no" feeling. This ability makes our intuition quite powerful; however, it is also prone to error: It seems to be working well for routine decisions and when it is based on our accumulated expert knowledge, and somewhat less well in complex or new situations or for data-driven problems.
The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to give it space to “speak up,” to listen to it and to learn to trust it (again).
How coaching can support:
When it comes to trusting our intuition, coaching can build a bridge: it can help us to make the gentle, whispering voice within us audible again. Through questions and targeted reflections, we can become more aware of our inner wisdom, distinguish our intuition from fear or doubt and recognize our sabotaging beliefs (see deep-dive #11). This can lead to the realization that the stories we tell ourselves (see deep-dive #6) are not our own but have been taught to us by others. We can explore ways to let go of hindering narratives and discover the potential in drafting a new personal story that is more in line with our values and the way we want to live.
Coaching can also help us make small decisions more intuitively - without hours of analysis. The better this works, the more our confidence grows. A coach will walk this path with us until we trust ourselves enough to continue walking it alone.
My books of the month:
Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman, 2013)
The Power of Intuition: How to use your gut feelings to make better decisions at work (Gary Klein, 2004)
Intuition: How to strengthen the voice of your soul and use it for a self-determined and free life (Alexandra Sorgenicht, 2024)
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