Intuition: Decision Making of successful Entrepreneurs and Scientists

Thoughts on intuition by some of the greatest minds of the past 100 years:

💡 "The only real valuable thing is intuition." - Albert Einstein

💡 "All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, guts, and not analysis." - Jeff Bezos

💡" I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics." - Richard Branson

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴

Intuition is what some refer to as the inner voice, gut feeling, instinct, or inner compass. Your intuition is able to access the knowledge of your subconsciousness in milliseconds. The Oxford English dictionary describes intuition as ‘the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning.’

Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute refers to intuition as "a form of unconscious intelligence". Moreover, he emphasizes that "intuitive decisions can be based on reliable information while leaving out unnecessary information."

Max Newlon, president of the Harvard Innovation Lab-incubated company BrainCo said "depending on the task, different thinking systems work more effectively. Intuitive right-brain thinking is characterized as more feeling-oriented, creative, and bigger-picture thinking” whereas left-brain thinking is analytical.

𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴?

👉Creative tasks

👉Complex tasks

👉Bigger-picture thinking

Ap Dijksterhuis and his colleagues at the University of Amsterdam found in an experiment that conscious thought applies to simple tasks, but is detrimental to complex ones.

Especially for complex problems, Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max-Planck-Institute says people rarely make decisions solely on the basis of reason.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

Whenever you make a decision that is based on experience or feeling.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

For intuitive thinking, you need to activate the ride side of your brain. CNN recommends:

• Breathe: Pay attention to your breath. It helps you to be in the moment and to connect with yourself which helps you to listen to your inner voice

• Meditation: Practice mindful meditations

• Get creative: Creative work such as painting, writing basically any creative task will do it

Dr. Dehra Harris explains “the ability to make quick, intuitive decisions is based on creating and cultivating self-trust."

𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱?

Maybe Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates can change your mind:

💡" Intuition is a powerful thing more powerful than intellect." - Steve Jobs

💡" Often you have to rely on your intuition"- Bill Gates

💡" There is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap." - Stephen Hawking