I was with a group of dynamic women business owners last month. We were discussing the status of some of their most critical business issues. An interesting theme emerged from the discussion – the need for us to follow our “inner voice”.
You can use several phrases to describe this “inner voice” – your intuition, your gut instinct, or the thought that you just can’t get out of your head. Find one that works for you and learn to follow it.
When you get these persistent, nagging thoughts about what direction to follow, do you take them seriously? Or – do you allow others to dissuade you?
Here are some tactics that you can use next time you are conflicted about following that “inner voice”:
- Try to enjoy some quiet time to really examine that nagging thought – how real and certain does it feel? Has it been persistent?
- Determine if the action or direction is something that is a good fit for the stage in your career or business. Or, is it something that you can undertake now to set the stage for a future direction?
- Does it feel “less than possible” right now, but the thought feels right for you?
If all these indicators are a “yes”, you should pursue it by trusting your gut, your instinct. Don’t allow others to offer purely negative narratives regarding why “now isn’t the right time”.
It’s great to have a counter opinion to help with your evaluation, but not one that can knock you off your certain path.
Often, even if our direction turns out to be not quite on target, we always learn something helpful. In the case of the meeting discussion I mentioned earlier, one of the women mentioned they insisted on taking a certain path on an important issue but another party dismissed their idea at the very end. It would have been the right approach, and now they are delayed in getting to present that case for resolution.