Get Out of Your Own Way by Robert K. Cooper

Author:Robert K. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307345493
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2006-04-11T06:00:00+00:00

SEVERAL OTHER CHANGES TO TEST

Here are a few of the other simple, practical tools I use and teach others to use to profit more fully from the wealth of brains nature has given us.

Recognize your patterns. Ultimately, using all your brains is a process of pattern recognition. The more you practice, the more patterns you intuitively recognize. Take a moment now and then to list decisions you’ve made that turned out right. Then list some mistakes you’ve made, and then reconstruct the thinking you went through. Where did intuition come in? Was it right or wrong? Are there patterns for when intuition gives you trustworthy advice and when you have to ask more questions?

Catch warnings earlier. One of the crucial applications of intuition is to alert you to something slipping out of control or going wrong, even if at first you don’t know exactly what that is. If something surprises your senses or doesn’t “make sense,” get more curious rather than trying to dismiss the feeling. Whenever your heart skips a beat sensing trouble, your gut tenses up, or your spine tingles with apprehension or sudden alertness, tune in. Intuition senses a barrier—and perhaps a rapid way to overcome it—long before the conscious mind can sort it out.

Remember how fast your other brains can be. Our “read” on a problem can be acted upon even before we have any conscious awareness that a problem exists.63

Value intuition—before you can put it into words. You may see a list of ten factual reasons to make a decision. Your head thinks they look very logical and rational. Then someone says, “Are we all in agreement on this, then?” and you find that somewhere inside you, you are worried. Maybe it’s just your thinking brain’s fear of trying anything new, but maybe it’s deeper. Maybe you should say something like “It all looks logical to me, but for some reason it doesn’t feel quite right, and I’d like an extra day to take a closer look at why.”

Be wary of intuition about other people’s motives or intentions. The thinking brain’s powerful drive to mistrust others often creates false “intuitions” about their intentions. Here’s a case where you have to consciously double-check what you think you’re hearing from inside yourself. Unfortunately, when we try to guess another person’s motives or intentions, more than nine times out of ten we may be wrong.64

To understand, we first need to ask and observe. Begin observations by saying, “From my point of view . . .” It’s vital to own your feelings and views as your own. “Maybe my intuition’s off, but I’m sensing that you’re under lots of pressure today . . . “ Or “I could be wrong, but I’m sensing that you’re quite excited about X but not Y . . .” Once you accept your impressions as your own and ask a sincere question, let the other person react: yes, no, or with something specific. This is a respectful way to learn more about someone or engage in a meaningful conversation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.