If You Want to Develop Your Intuition, Exercise More.
Have you ever met anyone who seemed to have talent for something? In a few minutes, could they come up with an idea that would take you hours? Spoiler alert: They’re not magic. They just trained a lot.
We rarely see a mountain of practice that goes into creative work. In fact, we don’t even notice it in ourselves, which leads to impostor syndrome orgenius idolatry . But intuition doesn’t magically come from a fountain in your brain. This is the culmination of practice and experience. So if you really want to improve your intuition, stop trying to fool your brain into the ideal state for flashes of genius and start practicing.
The better you are at something – be it dancing, playing the violin, or selling The Man in the Desert [the sales philosophy of the Container Store] – the more reliable, brilliant, and ingenious your intuition will be. I’ve been fly fishing all my life. So if I’m teaching you fly fishing and I intuitively think there is trout under this rock, then it probably is. If you’ve never fished before and think there are trout under this cliff, chances are it isn’t there.
This is not to say that you cannot prepare your brain for inspiration , but the idea that intuition is an innate trait, not an acquired one, actually keeps us from improving. So, if you are frustrated that other people seem to be getting on with tasks with little effort, start by recognizing their leadership in experience and then practice yourself.