She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition

The following is a true story that illustrates the point we want to make about why intuition is an important part of your intellectual make-up.

What Do You Know About Your Business That No One Else Understands?

I was at a Laundromat many years ago, while traveling. While waiting on my laundry to finish drying I visited with the lady sitting next to me.

I ask her where she was from and what she did for a living. She said she was from Texas and had worked for a Texas oil man for many years, but she no longer had a job. She began to tell the story of the Texas Oil Millionaire that had been a kind boss.

She had started to work for him nearly twenty years before, and watched happily as his Oil Company began to grow. He was a quiet person, who took time for everyone that came into his life; he spent hours studying his business. And he was always generous with those that helped him to make his business more money.

During the 1980's the Oil business began to make a great deal of changes, and he began to get a lot of advice from his peers. He was told he should move out into a different area of Oil Well Drilling and instead of just focusing on Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana he should invest in foreign oil.

He was uneasy about changing directions to enter the foreign oil business; it just didn't feel right to him, so he steered away from making that decision. Until one day he had a meeting with his inner circle of associates that had met once a month to discuss the oil business for years.

Unanimously the other oil men told him that he would be foolish not to follow the crowd and invest in foreign oil. They had all convinced themselves that it was the wise decision and that branching out into foreign oil would a short cut to obtaining greater wealth.

He gave in to the pressure of the men he respected, who had created and built oil companies worth millions. He shrugged off the inner voice that warned him from making the decision that would change his life and the lives of all the men in the room.

The descent was gradual, over a number of years' but the nagging feeling kept the "I-told-you-so" awareness echoing through his mind and gut, all the years it took to finally call it quits on a lost cause. He finally had to sell his once lucrative business for a few thousand dollars.

The lady looked me in the eye, while the whir of the dryers filtered back into our consciousness, "He knew. He knew all along it wasn't the right thing to do, but he couldn't put a logical reason to it, other than he had a 'gut feeling' that it was wrong to launch out into investing in an area he know little about. He went along because he didn't want to tell the other businessmen, he just had a 'gut feeling' it was a wrong move for him."

I saw the sadness in her eyes for her former boss, and his loss, as I spoke to her.

'He didn’t need to give them a reason other than I’m not ready to move my company in that direction. Winning is having enough confidence to follow your own intuition and not be easily persuaded that your inner voice is wrong."

She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition

She had started to work for him nearly twenty years before, and watched happily as his Oil Company began to grow. He was a quiet person, who took time for everyone that came into his life; he spent hours studying his business. And he was always generous with those that helped him to make his business more money.

During the 1980's the Oil business began to make a great deal of changes, and he began to get a lot of advice from his peers. He was told he should move out into a different area of Oil Well Drilling and instead of just focusing on Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana he should invest in foreign oil.

He was uneasy about changing directions to enter the foreign oil business; it just didn't feel right to him, so he steered away from making that decision. Until one day he had a meeting with his inner circle of associates that had met once a month to discuss the oil business for years.

Unanimously the other oil men told him that he would be foolish not to follow the crowd and invest in foreign oil. They had all convinced themselves that it was the wise decision and that branching out into foreign oil would a short cut to obtaining greater wealth.

He gave in to the pressure of the men he respected, who had created and built oil companies worth millions. He shrugged off the inner voice that warned him from making the decision that would change his life and the lives of all the men in the room.

The descent was gradual, over a number of years' but the nagging feeling kept the "I-told-you-so" awareness echoing through his mind and gut, all the years it took to finally call it quits on a lost cause. He finally had to sell his once lucrative business for a few thousand dollars.

The lady looked me in the eye, while the whir of the dryers filtered back into our consciousness, "He knew. He knew all along it wasn't the right thing to do, but he couldn't put a logical reason to it, other than he had a 'gut feeling' that it was wrong to launch out into investing in an area he know little about. He went along because he didn't want to tell the other businessmen, he just had a 'gut feeling' it was a wrong move for him."

I saw the sadness in her eyes for her former boss, and his loss, as I spoke to her.

'He didn’t need to give them a reason other than I’m not ready to move my company in that direction. Winning is having enough confidence to follow your own intuition and not be easily persuaded that your inner voice is wrong."

She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition

Unanimously the other oil men told him that he would be foolish not to follow the crowd and invest in foreign oil. They had all convinced themselves that it was the wise decision and that branching out into foreign oil would a short cut to obtaining greater wealth.

He gave in to the pressure of the men he respected, who had created and built oil companies worth millions. He shrugged off the inner voice that warned him from making the decision that would change his life and the lives of all the men in the room.

The descent was gradual, over a number of years' but the nagging feeling kept the "I-told-you-so" awareness echoing through his mind and gut, all the years it took to finally call it quits on a lost cause. He finally had to sell his once lucrative business for a few thousand dollars.

The lady looked me in the eye, while the whir of the dryers filtered back into our consciousness, "He knew. He knew all along it wasn't the right thing to do, but he couldn't put a logical reason to it, other than he had a 'gut feeling' that it was wrong to launch out into investing in an area he know little about. He went along because he didn't want to tell the other businessmen, he just had a 'gut feeling' it was a wrong move for him."

I saw the sadness in her eyes for her former boss, and his loss, as I spoke to her.

'He didn’t need to give them a reason other than I’m not ready to move my company in that direction. Winning is having enough confidence to follow your own intuition and not be easily persuaded that your inner voice is wrong."

She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition

The lady looked me in the eye, while the whir of the dryers filtered back into our consciousness, "He knew. He knew all along it wasn't the right thing to do, but he couldn't put a logical reason to it, other than he had a 'gut feeling' that it was wrong to launch out into investing in an area he know little about. He went along because he didn't want to tell the other businessmen, he just had a 'gut feeling' it was a wrong move for him."

I saw the sadness in her eyes for her former boss, and his loss, as I spoke to her.

'He didn’t need to give them a reason other than I’m not ready to move my company in that direction. Winning is having enough confidence to follow your own intuition and not be easily persuaded that your inner voice is wrong."

She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition

She nodded, that's true but the great thing is the end of this story for this particular man, not all of the Texas Oil men came out of that business decline so well, some had such overwhelming defeat they never recovered. But my former boss, being a man of kindness and integrity, took the blow and literally rolled with it.

He became a speaker that is well sought after, because of his defeat with his venture into foreign oil, and from that his rising out of the ashes of defeat to do it all over again, he regained his oil business and made more money that before the foreign oil fiasco.

He has helped many businesses by coaching them to follow their own convictions, that their voice of intuition is the voice of passion, knowledge and awareness of their own business that they need to follow to succeed.

We smiled and she patted my hand, as we both got up to fold our clean clothes.

Do you ever follow your own intuition?

Intuition is the power of knowing something in an instant, without following the normal procedure of reasoning something out, or meditating on it. Intuition has been called an educated guess or a gut instinct; both descriptions are apt, but not complete. Intuition plays a bigger role in business and life in general than many people would like to accept, viewing it, as they do, as more mystical than practical.

Intuition isn't mystical; it's just another useful function of the intricate workings of the mind.

Intuition is like having a camera inside the mind: it's as though the eye of the mind sees and understands a situation or subject the moment the shutter snaps the picture, because all of the reasoning and knowledge one has predetermines the perception for that subject or situation and holds it in the subconscious. That’s why it almost seems mystical; because it’s as if the mind holds the answers to the question before it’s been asked.

You will be able to read much more about intuition and many other elements that can elevate your thinking, so it will produce the actions you desire in life.

You absolutely must follow the crowd that's reaching a higher level of intelligence to obtain a competitive edge. It's time to make the effort to reach the top.