5 Ways to Keep Your Intuition Sharp

When people ask me the secret to my success, they’re usually surprised by my simple answer. Hard as it is to believe, intuition has always been the driving force behind my success. And it can be yours, too.?

Your intuition comes from your heart space. It's a gut feeling, an inner knowing. Many times, we listen to our head over our heart, because what looks great on paper overrides what our heart (or gut, or intuition) is telling us. It makes sense logically, but we often live to regret ignoring our gut. As time goes by, we may say to ourselves, "Why didn’t I listen to my intuition?? Why didn't I listen to my heart?"??

There’s a deep neurological basis for intuition. Scientists call the stomach the “second brain” for a reason. There’s a vast neural network of 100 million neurons lining your entire digestive tract. That’s more neurons than are found in the spinal cord, which points to the gut’s incredible processing abilities.

We have all made this mistake, but you can learn to trust your gut instincts. Here are the steps I take to keep my intuition sharp.

1) Spend time alone

In order to tap into your inner knowing, you need to be comfortable spending time alone .? When we are alone with our thoughts, without any distraction, we can better hear the inner voice that calls to us. We can better evaluate what is going on in our lives and see the truth in the relationships we have. Time spent listening to your gut can tell us whether or not our decisions, relationships, partners, jobs, work, friends, or the time we invest in others is healthy for us.??

2) Honor how others make you feel?

We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. The people we let in our lives, both personally and professionally, have a major impact on our happiness and success. That’s why it’s so important to be able to assess if someone else’s energy is safe and trustworthy. Before you let someone into your inner circle , tap into your gut and listen.?

Whether it's a meeting, date, Zoom call, interview, or coffee with someone, write down how you felt after spending time with someone.? Invigorated?? Exhausted?? Upset?? Insulted?? Inspired?? Happy?? Excited?? Negative people can easily bring us down, so take your time! I like to see people in various settings before I commit to them. How does this person operate in various settings? ? Whether I am investing in a founder, accepting a job offer, or bringing on an LP, I have learned to listen to how they make me feel, allowing me to quickly identify any red flags. How someone makes you feel should inform your decision to have a second meeting with that person, no matter how “influential” they are. Continuing to meet with someone who makes you feel bad isn’t worth the negative influence they will have on your personal and professional life.

3) Stay grounded?

Grounding relates to how centered and balanced we feel as a person, no matter what is happening around us. You can look up ways to stay grounded , but what works for me is being barefoot in the grass, cold plunging to reconfigure my nervous system, Epsom salt baths, and meditation. I also highly recommend prioritizing spending time in nature. Daily outdoor walks or runs are mentally and emotionally healthy for us. Staying grounded keeps our nervous system and mind calm, which sharpens our intuition.

4) Be brave

When you trust your intuition, you may make decisions that others don’t agree with. You may decide to break with people who are “big deals,” but who you don’t trust. You may get blowback from your peers. Social pressure is real, and while it is important to consider others’ counsel, ultimately, you’re the only person you need to answer to. Don’t gaslight yourself. Who cares if those who don’t align with your value system don’t like you? It requires a good dose of courage, but you won’t regret it. The more you trust your gut, the better your intuition will be.?

5) Be consistent in your authenticity

Our gut is the most authentic part of ourselves, exposing our deep inner knowing. If we aren’t consistently practicing authenticity in the other parts of our lives, your intuition (and your success) suffers. The two go hand-in-hand. So tap into that bravery I was talking about, and live and behave authentically and with consistency. That includes what you say (and do) online and offline, what you say (and do) to someone, and what you say (and do) to others behind their backs. Be consistent in your words and your actions, and see your intuition sharpen and your level of success advance to the next round.

Whether you can see the correlation or not, trust me wholeheartedly when I tell you this: keeping your intuition sharp and following the rules I’ve outlined for you above, will lead you all to success. I’ve done it, and so can you!??

“Follow your instincts. That's where true wisdom manifests itself.” — Oprah Winfrey

Have you ever failed to trust your gut… and lived to regret it? Let me know in the comments!?

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