“It is by logic that we prove,” said mathematician Henri Poincaré. 

“It is by intuition that we discover.”    

Intuition is to know something instinctively – without really thinking. And, whether with 1800s revolutionary scientists or today’s podcasts by boundary-breaking women, intuition continues to be a hot topic. The renewed interest of tuning into our body/mind and perceiving all of the information available to us is compelling and can be, at times, unsettling.

Researchers are finding new ways to study the complexities of the human ability to KNOW - without any awareness of conscious, logical thought occurring. They are also parsing out implicit bias and other detrimental aspects of acting without external “checks and balances” on our perceptions about people and places. As with any skill, over-reliance on intuition creates unreliability and imbalance, while completely ignoring it can cause avoidable challenges and potential harm. The combination of fast and slow thinking processes is necessary to operate effectively throughout each day.

In professional coaching relationships, intuition is a core skill. Coaches share their intuitive hits, and then see how the insight resonates with the client. This input disrupts the person’s on-going thought patterns and view of themselves. People may be inclined to look for information that confirms their existing bias and current beliefs. This mindset can be interrupted by the coach sharing an observation, without any ownership over the client’s response, bringing the individual to a new idea or perception. Most importantly, the coach is detached from their expressed sense, and a client can fully reject it without worry or guilt. 

Discovery and greater awareness are at the epicenter of coaching, and can propel clients into purposeful action. Coaching can prime a person’s brain to recognize new options and take potential action where there was previously no perceived alternative.  As described by Herbert Simon, intuition is really just recognition. In David G. Myers book Intuition: Its Powers and Perils, he states that “Sometimes we intuitively feel what we do not know we know.” This provides a starting place for coaches to reflect a client's emotions and energy shifts when meeting, and to bring awareness to consciously knowing. The implicit attitude below the surface is pulled up for consideration and contrasted with the explicit attitude being put forward by the client. Minimally, sharing an intuition creates an opportunity for a client to slow down long enough to assess more of the information that has been unconsciously processed, and identify what they really want.

Myers also highlights the human tendency to revise or “misremember” one's past. Ultimately, “by being mindful of the limits on our self-knowledge, we can restrain our gullibility and motivate ourselves to think critically, to check our own and others’ intuition against reality, and to replace illusion with understandings.” Seymour Epstein’s breakdown of “experiential knowing” and “rational knowing” demonstrates how both types of knowing live within us, and it is up to us to figure out how to manage each in a meaningful way, particularly when the situation is taken into consideration.  And, as Malcolm Gladwell described it in Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, “The best we can do, I think, is try to puzzle out the right mix of conscious and unconscious analysis on a case-by-case basis.” 

All of these authors leave out one important factor – when does intuition begin? It seems one could argue that the vast “experiential knowing” comes from beyond each individual’s personal experience and from a collective universal experience. Young children and adolescents demonstrate intuition and express insightful wisdom, even with their limited personal accumulation of information. They are natural discoverers. Imagine if adults encourage children to hone the skill of knowing without thinking, with the same fervor of teaching them logic and analysis. 

In the meantime, certified coaches are uniquely positioned to partner with individuals to align the implicit and explicit processes that control and explain one's behavior while creating greater congruence between the two. 

Fear is everywhere. Inside of us. Lurking in our imaginations. Outside of us in amped up media blurbs. Generating all sorts of worry, concern and illogical behavior. Occasionally, it is 100% rational and important to heed the warning bells going off in our brains. Most of the time though, it is a barrier that hinders us from really flourishing in our day to day world. “The Pirate” and I have been reading the book “Hey, That’s MY Monster!” by Amanda Noll (read by Lily Tomlin-love her!). It flips the script on fearing the monster under your bed, provides comfort in the scary and reminds us that sleep is great! (More on sleep in another post…) 

Just like the book’s main character Ethan, many of us are comfortable with our “monster” and use it to stay “safe”. This may seem like a contradiction, but when we dig deeper into our fear, we often find it is protecting us from something. Or, more likely, was protecting us from something in the past that is no longer a threat. It served a purpose once, and we stick with those familiar, habitual thoughts. Understanding fear means getting clear on when to use your legs to simply walk away, sprint like the wind out of the inferno or go marching head on into the fog trusting it will clear. We have to tune into ourselves to know when the danger is real, and when it is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors in our mind trying to keep us trapped in old ways. 

Write It Down 

When I was preparing for my next career step, I wrote a list of my fears related to leaving my Sr. Vice President role to start my own business. 

Here they are:

Fear #1: I might have zero clients and fail to earn any income.

Fear #2: I could spend even more time working than I do now and see my kids less.

Fear #3: I may lose my identity as a professional.

Fear #4: I will let down people I care about at my job.

Fear #5: I will leave something that I started even though it may not be strong enough to last.

Fear #6: I may be judged on what I left behind that is unfinished.

Fear #7: Our family won’t have insurance and something terrible could happen to one of us.

Fear #8: I might suck at coaching.

Fear #9: I might spend more time promoting my business than doing the part that I love.

Fear #10: I might become completely reliant on someone else for financial security.

These fears swirled in my head, and plagued me for months. Each one loomed larger than Godzilla. To conquer the “protector-of-the-status-quo” in “my toxic comfort zone”,  I used coaching tools and support to slowly shift fear’s power to productivity. If I was going to partner with people to break through their fears, I’d better be willing to do it myself. A go-to resource during this phase was Jen Sincero’s book “You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life”.  

Convert Your "Fears"

The core of coaching requires tuning into a person and deeply listening - not just to their words but their tone and energy. I listened to myself; writing down my answers, and coming up with actions to overcome my legit and ego-based fears. Seven of the ten fears listed above were within my control, and I found ways to prove them false. 

According to Plato, “Courage is knowing what not to fear.” A lot of what we fear is really not worthy of our energy and concern. We can think of solutions and methods to do what we want in our own way when we parse out fear’s purpose. Preparation, planning, risk assessing and connecting with a support system are ways to ensure that we can move forward with our fears. 

Maybe you already have your Gabe, that healthy perspective about fear and its benefits. Or maybe you are more like Emma, and need to test out a few “monsters” to stop your aimless wandering through the night. Either way, embrace bravery. Convert your fear. Learn, grow and find a new useful “monster” to call your own.