Tapping into Intuition to Find a Fulfilling Career
Real Jardín Botánico - Madrid
We’ve been told time and again that the gut instinct is a powerful tool. “Go with your gut”, in many cases, is even touted as a strategy for success. As kids in school, we are told that when in doubt, you should go with the first answer that pops into your head during a test. Nevertheless, over time, the importance of following your instincts might start to sound like a cliche, but is there truly value in tapping into your intuition?Absolutely!
So What is the Gut Feeling?
It turns out, there actually is a biological component to that gut feeling you’ve heard so much about. In fact, there is a primal connection between our gut and our brain. It makes sense, since some of our emotions can produce a very real physical response. Feeling anxious? You may start to feel sick to your stomach. That feeling may be a result of your brain subconsciously picking up on important cues around you, triggering a response. While it seems like intuition may be manifesting out of thin air, you are likely picking up information and noticing patterns from previous experiences, and then, using that data to aid in decision making.
Of course, sometimes, things may not be as clear cut. Sometimes, your intuition may give you a new idea, or seemingly spark a new interest out of what appears to be nowhere. This can be exciting, and perhaps the start of a new journey, if you decide to follow that inspiration.
Have you ever had a gut feeling that was so strong, that it could not be ignored? What was the result of listening to your intuition? If you ignored it, did it matter? I’ve found that for my career, leveraging my intuition has made all the difference in leading me down a satisfying career path.
Leveraging My Intuition to Find My Dream Career
I leaned into my gut feeling early in my career to help me decide what path I should take. As a college student, I thought that “one day” I would like to be a lawyer. Now, if you graduated in the late 2000s like me, you might have had a similar thought. It was a very popular time for those that aspired to enter the legal profession, but mostly, at least from my experience, the aspirations of going to law school were being driven by the fact that I didn’t really know what to do next, and law school seemed like a safe bet.
After I graduated, I started working in an administrative role for a small law firm, and eventually moved on to “Big Law”. Working in a law firm helped me confirm that I absolutely did not want to be a lawyer, but ruling one career choice gave me the opportunity to explore others. I wanted to find a career I was passionate about, but for a 23 year old, that can be way easier said than done.
Tapping Into Intuition with Self Reflection
One evening after work, I happened to turn on the Oprah show; a rebroadcast from that afternoon. The topic of the show was on following your passion. Basically, if you turn your passion into a career, you’ll be more likely to become successful. It sounded straight forward enough, but what was my passion? I wasn’t necessarily looking for an answer on what my dream profession could be, but at the most basic level, what did I enjoy doing?
After some time, I found my answer: information. Simply put, I love knowing things. I love being the go-to person for answers. In my dream world of information, I would have the ability to know everything going on at a given time. This explains my love of Twitter, and especially, its trending topics. It feeds my passion for wanting to be in the know. It is weird? Maybe. But it’s how I’m wired.
This realization truly helped to shape my life. Knowing what I was passionate about, my next step was to research career options that would let me work in the world of information.
Leveraging Intuition: Preparation + Timing
It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon librarianship as a career choice, and as luck would have it, I was working at a law firm that had a library in-house. Within a few months, I was starting a master’s program to get my degree in Library and Information Science. I was about 6 months into my MLIS program when a position opened up in the firm’s library, and soon, I had accepted a new role as a Library Specialist. I became a Reference Librarian when I completed my degree.
Since then, I’ve moved on from the law librarian role, but I’ve worked in the research and information space as a Talent Intelligence Analyst, and now, a legal information consultant. I can honestly say that I love the work that I do and I feel very fulfilled by this career journey so far. Now, over a decade in the field, and I’ve been amazed, and grateful, at all the opportunities that have presented themselves and the brilliant people I’ve been able to work with along the way.
Following Your Intuition…Sometimes People Won’t See What You See
The thing about following intuition is that sometimes, the people around you might not totally understand your reasons behind a choice that you make. My family has always been supportive of my decisions, but initially, they were not quite sure what to make of my new found career objectives of librarianship. And I get it, because it seemingly came out of left field. I used to love going to the library as a kid, but as a college student, I was rarely in the library at all. So naturally, there was some uncertainty on their end. And as amazing as librarianship is, it’s not a career path that is widely promoted or discussed.
You’ve got to remember that when you lead with your gut instinct, or your intuition, you are leveraging your own experiences, inner thoughts, and objectives when making a decision. If it seems like those around you are not seeing things the way that you do, it’s because they likely are not . So don’t be discouraged if those around you are not feeling the same excitement that you are.
Of course, if someone close to you does voice concerns on a decision you are weighing, you absolutely should hear them out and take them seriously. They are looking at things from a perspective that you don’t have, and being aware of your blindspots are essential. Follow your intuition, but also do your research, which includes weighing both the benefits and risks.
Ways to Follow Your Intuition
Like so many things, learning how to tap into your intuition and leverage those gut feelings takes time and practice. Journaling and practicing self reflection are great ways to start recognizing your intuition. To get started, ask yourself some questions and take notes. Over time, you may begin to notice patterns and glean insights. You won’t always need to act on your intuition immediately, but recognizing how to tap into your intuition is the first step in being able to leverage it in future decisions.
Some questions to get you started:
If every career paid the same salary, what profession would you choose?
What gives your energy?
What drains your energy?
What caught your attention today?
What is bothering you right now? If you could solve the problem, how would you do it?
