My Passion Revisited Part 3: Should I trust my intuition?

Everyone has intuition which is described as your inner voice or gut feeling.  I lost my connection to my intuition because of easy access to information on the internet, and immediate feedback from colleagues.  In this Tips Tuesday, I discover the importance of using intuition along with research for strong decision-making.

If you’d rather read about this topic, the transcript is a little further down, so keep on scrolling. 

Transcript

My Passion Revisited Part 3:  Should I trust my intuition?

Hi everyone,  Karin Naslund here with another Tips Tuesday for Leaders.  Actually, it is my first in the new year and I’d like to wish you a Very Happy New Year and definitely wish you the best in 2019.  

As we start in January, we know that the year is full of possibilities.   It’s always a time to look forward to what might happen in positive ways as we move through the year.  I say it’s a great time to set goals for yourself both personally and professionally. In fact I tend to set goals in a few different areas including my personal health and work of course; family-for sure being the number one priority; finances and what I might see in terms of some moving forward by way of savings and such;  and also in terms of my professional well-being and how I might further develop myself there.

If you’ve been following me you know I’ve been on a journey since September and really taking a look at what I what to do over the course of the next 10ish years.   I’m at that place in my career where I know that retirement is looming and so I really want to take advantage of opportunities that intrigue me.

I haven’t been feeling totally connected to what I’m currently doing so I began an exploration of looking more at myself and what my talents might be and where I might go given my experience as well as my education.   Now, I haven’t quite gotten there in terms of knowing what that might look like, but I have learned a lot through this journey of exploration. One of the things that I learned, or that I’m really getting a sense of, is that I have to find myself again.  I have to find the person I was meant to be with work, and with a family who is now grown and on their own. Of course, (at the time) I was looking after everyone else and what they were needing, and to be honest, I lost a part of who I really am.

As  I’ve been exploring that, and more of what I think I am looking for I invested in a few different tools which I have mentioned before including StandOut 2.0 , written by Marcus Buckingham.  It’s another assessment tool that further defines your strengths and identified one of my strengths – Stimulator.  A stimulator feeds on energy I guess you could say. For myself, I can walk into a room and really get a sense of where people are at.   My goal is always to lift them up. I find that is so true of me both personally and professionally. What does that mean? e suggested in his (Buckingham’s) book that I work with energy and that I try out different ways to do that.    I’ve been doing things like meditation, and looking at yoga of course, and talking to some of the instructors of yoga about how I might further explore some of the uses of energy. I have also really been looking at the kinds of things that I might want to be doing.  One of the things I’ve really got a very good sense about is that this year is a year of opportunity for me which is such a relief because I have been really struggling to find my place. It’s about being open to what is out there and of course, it doesn’t mean sitting back and waiting for it.   I have to look at possibilities and develop goals to move forward. I really truly believe that this year will be a year of change for me that is going to lead me forward and additionally bring me to a place of who I was meant to be, but also with the kind of energy that I need and want in my work and in my personal life.

Today I was really going to chat with you about intuition since it was one of the things that I’m exploring and it’s one of the things that I’ve recognized I’ve really lost sight of.   We all have intuition and through the course of time we tend to use it less, rely on it less, trust it less, as we adjust to social norms and look outward instead of inward for answers.   I know I have been consistently relying on the internet and research, research, research, to define what it is I need or might want to have. In fact, although it’s an important piece, and you definitely don’t want to let go of it, you also have to be able to trust your gut or that inner voice that also offers you guidance as you move forward.  I had lost that and was relying so much on what was out there to tell me who I was and what I should be doing. In fact, I’m at a place right now that might almost, with my intuition, suggest that I had down a specific path or should look at something that I had already done maybe with further enlightenment. For example, the whole area of social media.  I invested a ton of time, energy, information and resources of my own, to try and make a go of it and have my business and my courses and the services I offer recognized by the people that possibly could use them. I have found it to be a failure. With all of that investment, with all of that dedication and commitment, the payoff has been very little.   Now, logically I would move on, put that aside and head in a different direction. If I was to listen to my intuition at this moment in time, it’s telling me “Karin, you should explore it further and maybe you should invest in a whole different way that would bring about results for you.” I’m almost hearing “Karin you need to hire someone full-time to bring into your business that has a really good understanding of social media and can help you with the steps to get there.  You can’t do it alone.” The payoff would not only be to my business, but to my own personal satisfaction since I really enjoy working with people. Now, one of the things the whole study of energy has told me is that I don’t quite trust myself yet and I know that I need to step forward.

I’m really curious to know what you think.  I’d love for you to share with me your thoughts about what I’ve just said.   Do you think that I’ve invested enough time and energy, and I should look at something totally new and something different than what I’m doing? Do you have ideas for how I might explore further the investment of my time and energy using the internet, and using social media to expand what I’m doing?

I want to remind you that I had found my WHY, my purpose for existing and it’s what I want to share with all of you out there – “To share my knowledge while positively impacting people so that they feel worthy valued and successful”   That’s my ultimate goal;  my ultimate purpose for doing what I do.

So,  tell me what do you think I should do?   Should I move forward with what I’m thinking,  what my gut is telling me, or should I pay attention to that logical side that’s saying you’ve been there done that,  and you know what’s going to happen?

Until we meet again remember success is yours,  …let me know in the comments below.

Bye for now