Developing Intuition for Coaching.
Intuition has been recognized as a valuable asset for the top performers in business. In a survey of 36 CEO’s, Intuition was listed as the single most important factor in the decision process. Visionaries Like Steve Jobs, Einstein, Oprah Winfrey and William Amelio list the importance of developing and improving access to your intuitive abilities. This ability does not seem to be limited to a certain field or cognitive aspect, and yet the people who report of the graces of intuition have been recognized as the leaders and visionaries far beyond their contemporaries. Here is a list of some of the more recognizable Intuitive leaders.
When it comes to coaching, many of us are CEO’s of our own business. Wether we have one employee or thousands, the use of intuition will help you be more effective, and offer greater value to your team and your customers. Dr. Mehrabian is known for his research on communication in the 1960s, and he developed a formula to describe how the mind determines meaning. He concluded that the interpretation of a message is 7 percent verbal, 38 percent vocal and 55 percent visual. His stunning conclusion was that 93 percent of typical communication is “nonverbal” in nature. Intuitive coaching allows for a deeper connection to the client and level of understanding that is gained by accessing the full spectrum of communication.
With so much of communication being sensory in nature, the use of Intuition allows us to process larges sets of information in a meaningful way. Along with the choice of words and tonality; Facial features, eye movement, breathing, gestures and body position are all accessed intuitively as to gain a wider understanding of what the client is communicating. When we listen as coaches on this level, we are able to assist the client in creating a place of non-judgment and unconditional positive regard. This space may allow access and healing of negative thoughts and self limiting beliefs. When a client feels safe to be vulnerable and the coach follows an intuitive clue to go deeper, the client may find a new perspective that could be life changing. I personal have seen my clients address and overcome self limiting behaviors, habits and beliefs. Focus is a key for intuitive coaching. Often it is pointless to work on goals, if a self sabotaging belief or behavior still exists within the client. Intuitive coaching may offer the means to access, question and release those beliefs that have held the client back in life. Once the self sabotage is cured, we can do the real job of a coach and help the client start living the life they desire. The Job of an intuitive coach is to help the client develop trust and confidence in their own competency, knowledge and skills.
One of the most beneficial things we can do with our client is to help them develop their own intuitive reasoning process. This is done by engaging the the subconscious and visual cortex part of the brain. The subconscious processes all the sensory input from the body. The mind absorbs over 10 million bits of information per second through the senses, which is primarily handled as subconscious processing.
Some studies have estimated the speed of the cognitive mind to be in the range of 40–100 bits per second. We started this article with the focus on the benefit of intuition on decision-making, so let’s also consider the results from a recent study published in Scientific Reports on The Capacity of Cognitive Control Estimated from a Perceptual Decision-Making Task. This study measured the capacity of cognitive control on decision-making as only 3 to 4 bits per second. This may be further evidence demonstrating that cognitive control as a higher-level function has a remarkably low capacity at integrating all the information needed to make a complex decision, and may also be a scientific reasoning of the importance of intuition in the decision making process that was reported by the CEO’s.
All this information is provided to simply to share the importance of the subconscious mind in intuitive reasoning, decision-making, problem-solving and in accessing new and innovative concepts. For descriptive purposes, and by ignoring much of the complexity of the mind, If we were simply to assume that the mind could be focused to utilize all this processing power, the subconscious mind could process in one second what would take the conscious mind over seven hours. If we consider perceptual decision-making, one second of subconscious processing is equivalent to almost 3 days of constant thought by cognitive control.
I would imagine that you agree in the need to develop intuitive skills, but exactly how is that done? The trick is to focus the mind on a single or scope limited question. That is done by clearing your mind, then focusing your subconscious attention with visual imagery. The final step is to recognize and retrieve your intuitive answer and to derive the proper meaning. Remember, the subconscious mind does not have the same emotional boundaries and will seek the simplest and most comprehensive answer to a problem. An example of this is the old story of the person asking for peace in a chaotic home. In the next few days, other family members move in, and the chaos is multiplied many times. A few weeks later, the people move on, and the person notices how peaceful it is when it was just as it was before. It was the perception that changed, and everything changed. So let's dive deep into clearing your mind, focusing your thoughts, and listening.
I will start with the last part of accessing the intuition, and the reason is because that is what most people are seeking. It is simply developing the awareness or noticing the signals that occur when you have an intuitive answer arrive. For our clients, we can help them grow the muscle of intuition by having them pay attention and start to notice how it is that they feel at times. Noticing these feelings will help us and others become aware when an intuitive answer may exist to something that we would like to consider.
The problem is that if the mind is not clear and focused, the intuitive answer may seem wrong or confusing. The subconscious portion of our mind processes by accessing states of emotion, memories of experiences, biological cues and presents back a generalized and integrated answer. When our minds are not focused, we are offering input data to multiple and discreet questions or problems. The intuitive answer to an unfocused mind will sometimes appear to be wrong, as the real question that is under consideration is not the question that we think we are asking. Why is it so hard to focus?
It is estimated that we have 60–70 thousand thoughts per day. If we assume you only get 6 hours of sleep a night, then that is almost one thought per second. To focus our thoughts, we must step onto the path of becoming self-aware. One great method of developing self awareness and quieting the mind is mindfulness and meditation. Shunryu Suzuki shared his advice on how to avoid anxiety and stop negative thoughts. He said, “Leave your front door and back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don’t serve them tea” When we notice the thoughts, but do not let them trigger us into a cascade of other related thoughts or emotions, we can become aware and intentionally focus our thoughts on something important.
Hypnotherapy is also an excellent method to increase your focus on a certain thought, problem or solution. An article from Quartz magazine was titled, Neuroscientists say that hypnosis could actually help you focus better. With repeated hypnosis sessions, you can train the mind to shift into a higher state of mental focus. According to one study, hypnotized individuals focus better on a single task, regardless of the surround stimuli. The researchers found that when the hypnotizable patients underwent hypnosis, the parts of their brains associated with recognizing the surrounding environment and the patients’ actions were less active and that the networks associated with mind-body communication were more connected than usual. Together, the researchers say, these effects could lead to feeling more focus and control over the body, and less inhibition while moving and engaging with the environment.
From this place of focus, visualize the solution, notice the problem or obstacle and really see it. Imagine it visually, and see what you see. This will not only focus the subconscious, it will engage the visual cortex for a greater degree of instruction to the subconscious. I wonder if this is why vision boards tend to be praised for the positive effect in helping people achieve those results. If something comes up visually, a symbol, it is not necessary to understand the meaning at this moment, simply allow your mind to be clear and focused on the problem.
And we return once again to listening for our intuitive response. With the extra practice on quieting your mind and focusing your subconscious mind, I am confident that you will start to notice an increase in your intuitive problem-solving success. If you have tried this approach, share your experience. I would love to know what you discovered as you engaged your subconscious mind. If you would like to try hypnotherapy or guided meditation, contact me for a free downloadable audio file. You can reach me regarding this article by Referencing “Developing Intuition for Coaching” steve@mybest-life.com
