Principle – 6
Think with your whole mind
Think with your whole mind
Human beings come fully equipped with both logical and intuitive thinking abilities, and somehow, over the years, most of us learn to rely on one more than the other.
Neither is better than the other and neither is more reliable.
People who intuitively “trust my gut” are just as likely to be right or wrong as people who “figure it out” logically.
The people who learn to use logical and intuitive thinking get the best results.
It’s as if they had two brains, and everyone knows “two heads are better than one.”
If you trust your intuition and bypass logical thinking you’re only using half your brain power.
The same is true if you trust logic and ignore your intuition.
If you tend to be a logical thinker, wouldn’t it be better if you could double-check your logic with your intuition?
If you tend to be intuitive, wouldn’t it be better if you could build a logical case for what your intuition tells you?
Of course, the answer to both questions is yes.
Logical thinking seems obvious and easy.
It’s the way they teach us to think in school, and we’ve done it for so long, it seems inborn, but it’s not. We had to learn it.
Because intuitive thinking is mostly unconscious, and works in ways that are invisible to us, it’s easy to dismiss intuition as “merely a feeling.”
Just because we don’t know how intuition works, doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
Do you know how your computer works?
Do you know how Panadol works?
Do you know how your liver works?
You don’t know how they work, yet you use them all, don’t you?
Your intuition already works, and it works just fine, yet you might not know how to listen to it, and therefore might not be allowing yourself to benefit from this wonderful, invisible, thinking process.
This principle of using your whole-mind will make your decision making and business management far more effective than relying primarily on one thinking mode or the other.
An understanding of the importance of conscious and unconscious thinking and logical and intuitive decision making will make you a better judge of people, markets, systems, financial management, communications, relationships, and more.
That understanding alone will dramatically increase your effectiveness as a business person and leader.
It’s a theme that runs throughout the Full Spectrum Business Development Program.
Neither is better than the other and neither is more reliable.
People who intuitively “trust my gut” are just as likely to be right or wrong as people who “figure it out” logically.
The people who learn to use logical and intuitive thinking get the best results.
It’s as if they had two brains, and everyone knows “two heads are better than one.”
If you trust your intuition and bypass logical thinking you’re only using half your brain power.
The same is true if you trust logic and ignore your intuition.
If you tend to be a logical thinker, wouldn’t it be better if you could double-check your logic with your intuition?
If you tend to be intuitive, wouldn’t it be better if you could build a logical case for what your intuition tells you?
Of course, the answer to both questions is yes.
Logical thinking seems obvious and easy.
It’s the way they teach us to think in school, and we’ve done it for so long, it seems inborn, but it’s not. We had to learn it.
Because intuitive thinking is mostly unconscious, and works in ways that are invisible to us, it’s easy to dismiss intuition as “merely a feeling.”
Just because we don’t know how intuition works, doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
Do you know how your computer works?
Do you know how Panadol works?
Do you know how your liver works?
You don’t know how they work, yet you use them all, don’t you?
Your intuition already works, and it works just fine, yet you might not know how to listen to it, and therefore might not be allowing yourself to benefit from this wonderful, invisible, thinking process.
This principle of using your whole-mind will make your decision making and business management far more effective than relying primarily on one thinking mode or the other.
An understanding of the importance of conscious and unconscious thinking and logical and intuitive decision making will make you a better judge of people, markets, systems, financial management, communications, relationships, and more.
That understanding alone will dramatically increase your effectiveness as a business person and leader.
It’s a theme that runs throughout the Full Spectrum Business Development Program.