Get All Access for $5/mo

7 Things Deeply Intuitive People Do Differently Steve Jobs once said that intuition is more powerful than intellect.

By Travis Bradberry Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Steve Jobs once said that intuition is more powerful than intellect. As it turns out, Jobs was onto something, and the scientific community backs him up. It seems that we've been giving intuition far too little respect.

"Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next." -- Jonas Salk

In a Salk Institute study, participants were asked to play a card game where they pulled cards from two different decks. The decks were rigged so that one would "win" more often than the other, but the participants didn't know that -- at least, not overtly. It took about 50 cards for participants to consciously realize that the decks were different and about 80 to figure out what that difference was. However, what was really interesting was that it only took about 10 cards for their palms to start sweating slightly every time they reached for a card from the "losing" deck. It was about that same time that they started subconsciously favoring the "winning" deck.

Related: 8 Habits of Incredibly Interesting People

While that's all very interesting in a clinical setting, you have to ask yourself if it holds true in real life. Apparently, it does. When it comes to making major decisions, your intuition can matter just as much as your intellect.

In one study, car buyers who relied on careful analysis of all of the available information were happy with their purchases about 25% of the time, while buyers who made quicker, more intuitive purchases were happy with their purchases about 60% of the time.

Intuition comes from the primitive brain; it's an artifact of the early days of man when the brain's ability to detect hidden dangers ensured our survival. These days, we use this capability so little that we don't know how to listen to it properly.

Whether you listen to it or not, your intuition is healthy and functioning. If you want to make better decisions in life, you'd do well to brush up on your intuition skills. You can start by emulating some of the habits of highly intuitive people.

1. They slow down enough to hear their inner voice. Before you can pay attention to your intuition, you first have to be able to hear it amid the cacophony of your busy life. You have to slow down and listen, which often requires solitude. Taking some time away from the everyday, even something as brief as going for a walk, is a great way to turn up the volume of your intuition.

2. They follow their inner voice. One of the primary reasons that some people are more intuitive than others is that they actually listen to their gut feeling instead of dismissing or doubting it. And that doesn't mean that they ignore their analytical mind and their critical thinking skills; there's a difference between using reason as a system of checks and balances and using it to talk yourself out of what your intuition knows to be true.

Related: 9 Signs You're Successful -- Even If It Doesn't Feel Like It

3. They practice empathic accuracy. I'd probably lose you if I said that highly intuitive people read minds, so I'll use the scientific term: empathic accuracy. It's not magic; it's an intuitive awareness of what other people are thinking and feeling, using cues such as body language and tone of voice. It's an extremely powerful form of empathy that helps foster deep connections with other people.

4. They practice mindfulness. "Mindfulness" sounds even more New-Agey than trusting your intuition, but it's really just a fancy term for focusing on being in the moment. Mindfulness is a great technique to filter out all of the distractions in your environment -- and your brain. When you do that, you can hear your intuition loud and clear.

5. They nurture their creativity. Did you ever have one of those paint-by-number kits when you were a kid? Talk about turning art into a science -- all you have to do is put the right color in the right little space. You may end up with a pretty painting, but the only intuition involved is guessing what colors you're supposed to use in those really tiny spaces. No paint-by-numbers kit in the world can make a skilled artist create something as novel and monumental as the Sistine Chapel or the Mona Lisa. The missing ingredient is intuition. And, just as intuition is the secret ingredient in creativity, being intentionally creative strengthens your use of intuition.

6. They trust their gut. Have you ever made a decision and immediately started to feel sick, maybe even kind of clammy? Well, that affective experience is the body's way of informing you that the decision your analytic mind came to is at odds with your instinct.

7. They analyze their dreams. If you accept the science that demonstrates the power of intuition, it's not much of a leap to accept that our dreams are often manifestations of intuition. Sure, sometimes dreams are nonsense, but they often try to tell us something. Intuitive people don't just think, "Wow, that was a weird dream!"; they ask themselves, "Where did that come from, and what can I take away from it?"

Related: 7 Amazing Things That Happen When You Spend Time Alone

Bringing It All Together

The science is clear: intuition is a powerful force of the mind that can help us to make better decisions. Fortunately, intuition is a skill that you can hone by practicing the habits of highly intuitive people.

Travis Bradberry

Bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence Habits

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence Habits and a LinkedIn Top Voice with more than 2.5 million followers. His bestselling books have sold more than 3 million copies, are translated into 25 languages, and are available in more than 150 countries. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Harvard Business Review.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Side Hustle

This 20-Year-Old Student Started a Side Hustle With $400 — and It Earned $150,000 Over the Summer

Jacob Shaidle launched his barbecue cleaning business Shaidle Cleaning in 2021 when he was just 15.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Making a Change

Learn a New Language with This Fresh Approach

Read and listen side by side.

Marketing

Ad Fatigue is Real — Why Trust and Influencers Are Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity Marketing

With the rapid evolution of cyber threats, businesses are becoming increasingly careful when choosing cybersecurity providers. Therefore, cybersecurity companies must center their marketing strategies around trust, not ads.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Is Now the World's Second Richest Person, Behind Elon Musk

Meta's CEO jumped ahead of Jeff Bezos in Bloomberg's rankings this week.