Most often, the best way to make a decision is to take action immediately upon processing the relevant and important information available to us. Many decisions are cut and dry and require little deep thinking. Decisions like these are best made quickly, followed by taking action and reacting to feedback in the environment (see my post titled Make Better Decisions). This post deals specifically with step 2 of that process called “Never ignore your intuition”, and is about that pesky little feeling that doesn’t go away once you have consciously decided on a course of action that for whatever reason simply doesn’t feel right.
We’ve all been there. Stuck with a vague idea that something isn’t right after we’ve consciously processed all the details we’re aware of. Logically, we’ve figured out what we think is best course of action, but there is a persistent feeling in our minds that tells us we haven’t yet gotten to the heart of the matter. Some important information is missing, and yet the more we try to analyze, the more generalized our uneasiness, and the more that feeling of uneasiness seems to get hopelessly lost in all the details.
Use your sixth sense
Our intuition, or “sixth sense” comes from our unconscious mind. Notice that I didn’t say “subconscious”, because this part of our mind is no less important than conscious thought. The unconscious mind performs many important details of which you are consciously unaware and in fact hopelessly unprepared to handle by thinking them through. Consider for example, your breathing, heartbeat, digestive process, and any number of important bodily functions. If you had to think any one of these processes through down to the smallest details, you conscious mind would be overwhelmed and you probably wouldn’t survive through the end of the day. You mind is in charge of all these processes, yet (thankfully) not on a conscious level. Playing a musical instrument is another good example. Neither the drummer, the piano player, nor the guitar player consciously think out each note they play and the associated neuromuscular movements associated with them. Once attaining proficiency they simply play, relying on both their conscious and unconscious minds to work in harmony with each other. The good news is that the same powerful mental capacity that helps us perform complex tasks such as these is also available and incredibly useful in helping us make important decisions.
Give your mind “a bone to chew on”
After you’ve consciously considered all available alternatives, the best course of action is to turn your attention away from consciously analyzing the situation and allow your unconscious mind to get to work. When you learn to listen to it effectively, your unconscious mind will bring to the surface the things you’ve yet to consider that are the reason for your feelings of uneasiness, as well as provide the appropriate information you need for making a sound decision. An effective way to do this is to direct your conscious thinking away from the subject at hand when that feeling of uneasiness arises. My NLP trainer, who is also a skilled hypnotist, referred to this process as giving your conscious mind “a bone to chew on”. You want to get it out of the way and keep it otherwise occupied while you allow your unconscious mind to work on filling in the missing information. This can be achieved through hypnosis, meditation, or simply paying attention to what is going on in your mind and allowing itself to work things out to your satisfaction. I am going to give you a very simple and unsophisticated (yet effective) example of the latter technique from my own personal experience to demonstrate:
Practical example
Last night, I arrived home shortly before 10pm with a general feeling of uneasiness regarding a situation I had been consciously thinking through. I knew that I hadn’t yet gotten to the heart of the matter and couldn’t figure out exactly what the underlying issue was. All the facts were in, and it was important to me that I figure out a solution. I knew that additional conscious reasoning would be to little or no avail. So what did I do at 10 o’clock last night when I could have been consciously kicking around alternatives in my head or getting some much needed sleep? I played around on the computer. Watched a couple of Linkin Park videos, got caught up on ESPN, and then watched a few videos on impov comedy, which is something I enjoy quite a bit. I did nothing that required me to think, yet I gave my conscious mind some interesting things to focus itself on. There was absolutely no conscious focus whatsoever on the underlying “problem” that I wanted to solve, yet I sat down with the definite intention of giving my unconscious the “space” it needed to do it’s work. It was my intention to distract and entertain myself on a conscious level in order to allow my unconscious mind to do its work. Note: This is different than avoiding a situation entirely and blowing off making a decision until one is made for you by default. I had gotten that unconscious cue that not only was something amiss, but that if I just shut off the endless rehashing of details that an answer was likely to come.
Keep it as simple as possible
Sure enough, just before midnight I had this feeling that is was time to power down the CPU for the evening and head to bed. Consciously I didn’t know why, but it simply felt like the time was right. As I got up from the desk, important information that was at the heart of the issue immediately popped into my consciousness, much to the surprise of my conscious mind. It was one of those “ah ha” moments, and I immediately gained valuable insight that helped me to resolve the situation that was giving my conscious brain so much trouble. I didn’t plan when my unconscious was going to be finished, nor did I plan what to focus on while it went to work on my behalf. It was simply a matter of recognizing, allowing, and trusting in the process. As I said earlier, this process can also be achieved with hypnosis or meditation, and some would argue that I was using a simple yet decidedly effective form of either, or both. And that’s exactly my point. We don’t have to over complicate things. The simplest method to achieve the desired result is usually the most effective. It’s also pretty cool when you get to rock out and watch some cool videos while “working” on solutions to important issues. 
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