ZoieFilms, Inc.

Victoria lynn Weston, Instructor.

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

BECOMING A BUSINESS FUTURIST

Stimulating your own predictions

You can take your natural intuitive brain skill and build up day by day and apply it practical business matters. Psychologist, Carl Jung found that people skilled in using intuition tend to have superior leadership abilities. They have a sense of vision and know how to move effectively toward that vision. It's a fact, intuitive people are good at generating new ideas and providing fresh solutions to old problems, and they function best in a crisis situation.

Shakespeare has Macbeth express the attitude of any savvy leader toward one profession intuitive power. "If you could look into the seeds of time," says Macbeth "and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me."

When you think of the what business leaders want, it is the kind of innovative, fresh approaches that come straight from intuition. In one study, two professors from Newark College of Engineering interviewed company presidents who had doubled the firm's profits over five years -- would your company increase your pay if you could do that? Do you know what these professors discovered? These particular individuals who had doubled their company profits had scored significantly higher on standardized tests for precognition. In fact, scores on these tests turned out to be better predictors of executive success than the standard personality tests that companies traditionally use. Approximately 80 percent of those executives believed in ESP, not because of anything they had read or seen -- but because they had experienced it it in their own lives.

Just try to think of a business decision that does not rely on intuition...on our ability to consider all the information, run it through our mental processors, and quite simply -- make a prophecy... a prophecy upon which the business will base its action.

When Nancy, a scientist, intuits a hypothesis, she is, at least in part, predicting the future. In other words, she is predicting what will happen to certain phenomena under certain conditions.

If you accept a dinner invitation for a blind date, you are predicting that the evening will be harmonious. When you follow your instinct about a particular stock, you are predicting you will make a profit.

Any decision you make is predicted on a certain outcome that you believe will result. So, it's easy to see why the ability to forecast well is a quality much sought after by executives, business people, individuals -- or anyone who faces important decisions.

The Intuition Journal

Bob Anderson, a real estate developer was about to sign on a new resort development. The next night he woke up from a deep sleep and blurted to his wife, "I'm not going through with it!"

However that morning Bob tossed off his comments and dream and signed the deal anyway. It was disastrous!

Today, Bob voices with confidence, "whenever I have those eery vibes -- I trust 'em! And, I haven't had a bad deal since!"

It's these types of personal experiences that tell us how to respond to intuition. Keeping a Intuitive Journal will help you understand and differentiate between successful intuitions and faulty ones.

Keeping this journal should make your more "in-tune" of your intuitive voice. Thus, ultimately increasing your confidence and awareness of your intuition.

The previous items can be noted at the time of the intuition. Later, add to your journal the following;

It's a good idea to leave room in your journal for random observations and patterns such as, "my intuition seems to be more accurate at work, than with personal relationships." Ideally, review your journal once a month.

This is a good forum to discuss with other classmates or with those also keeping a journal. Be open to sharing your experiences.

When evaluating your intuition, keep in mind that it might be speaking on several levels. Part of your interpretation may be wrong, but on the other level it may be accurate.

As an example: Susan was browsing in a shopping area and was drawn to a store that sold fitness apparel. She had no need for such items, but she felt compelled to enter the shop. Susan's interpretation was that her intuition was alerting her to a sale or a unique item.

Susan was wrong. But, she enjoyed her conversation with the clerk named Sandy, they both instantly hit if off and decided to meet for lunch.

Two days later, Susan lost her job. Depressed she called Sandy to cancel lunch. During that conversation, Sandy mentioned she was quitting her job. So, Susan replaced Sandy at the shop.

Express Your Intuition in Writing

When you're faced with a problem that is difficult to define or simply out of reach, sit down and write on paper whatever comes to mind.

By writing your thoughts, regardless of how unrelated, ungrammatical, irrelevant, even ridiculous -- you will begin to unleash your intuition.

Pay attention! Intuitive patterns will offer insights that will help you zero in on the problem.

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Let's get started with sentence completion.

(If you're using Microsoft Reader, right click your Mouse and you can easily type in your thoughts and save the text! Or, if you prefer to keep hand written notes, that's fine, too. )

• What I think of this situation is....(for example, impending layoff, job change, economy, relationship).
• What I don't know is...
• The thing that bothers me most is...
• Some of the things I'm unsure about are...
• Some of the things that might happen are...
• If I had my way...
• Other people involved think...
• Under no circumstances will I...
• I have a feeling that...
• If push comes to shove, I...

Remember, you can't be intuitive if you're trying to be right!

Practice Makes Perfect

Brainstorming can break down hackneyed thought processes and give the intuitive mind freedom to express itself!

Use this exercise in conjunction with your Intuitive Journal.

1. Practice making quick decisions on minor matters such as; deciding what to wear, going to a movie, selecting a driving route, buying clothing or accessories
2. Practice making predictions! Go with your first thought that comes to mind. For example;predict who is calling when the phone rings, predict the outcome of sporting events, the subject of tomorrow's newspaper headlines, the performance of certain stocks, what your boss may wear to work, the Oscar winners.
3. Cover the captions on newspaper photographs and quickly state what is going on. Alternatively, cover the captions on cartoons and come up with your own. These can work in two ways: trying to be correct and trying to be inventive.
4. Turn off the sound to the television, and after 5 minutes of watching, describe the story.
5. After a brief meeting with a stranger, try to describe them in detail; family background, hobbies, their self-esteem, marital status, favorite color, likes/dislikes, favorite foods, personal habits, profession, etc.
6. Work with photo's or sketchy information -- try this with a friend or online classmate. (Partner with someone if you haven't already and share some of these exercises together. Keep notes and post your comments -- successes and failures.)
7. Read mysteries and predict the solution.
8. Practice brainstorming with the following problems; lost pets, carrying packages in the rain, unemployment, company expansion, buying real estate, dripping faucets, dirty streets, our nations education, politics.

One of intuition's primary functions is problem solving and decision making. Another chief function is generating new alternatives. Intuition allows us to go beyond mere fact and logic to fresh, innovative possibilities.

When intuition is fertile, it can generate a large quantity of alternatives, many of which will be useless but will stimulate other more practical ideas.

Too often, this generative function is impeded by our tendency to step in and evaluate as soon as an intuition appears. Our schools encourage this. We are rewarded for the right answers. This process creates one of the biggest psychological obstacles to intuition; the onus of having to be right.

The fear of being wrong is so ingrained in our minds -- instead look for something that will work. MIT's Peter Senge noted, "creative intellects are at peace with what they don't know. They are willing not to understand." You can be intuitive, if you're trying to be right!

In order to make the most of intuition;

1. First slow down the rush to judgment.
2. Intuition should be nurtured as a seed and left alone to see if it takes root.

Under ordinary circumstances, the mind will naturally think about the intuition, analyze it, and test it against the facts. The heart will respond to it, letting you know how it feels about the intuition. Follow your heart.

Homework ASSIGNMENT

Try not to challenge or struggle with these tendencies, but final judgment should be postponed, and criticism should be balanced with the recognition that part of the intuition might be valuable -- or part of the intuition could be a catalyst, causing a chain reaction, but ultimately culminating in a breakthrough.

To counteract a critical urge, set aside a JUDGMENT FREE period for generating solutions to a specific problem.

Brainstorming was created by Alex Osborn in 1948 and is a formal method used by many companies today.

Group brainstorming is an excellent way to improve your intuition and break down stale thought processes. Group interaction sparks thoughts with each other. A leader presents the problem and enforces the rules.

Next, within this classroom, nominate a group leader and use the MessageBoard for brainstorming, etc. If you don't know who's in class, email a note and we'll provide a list: Classmates

The rules are:

1. Remember to trust your first impression. There will be no criticism or judgment of any intuitive ideas presented.
2. Give your intuitive mind unconditional freedom to express itself!
3. Quantity is desirable; the more ideas, the better. To borrow the Chinese proverb, "The best way to catch a fish is to cast many lines!"
4. No idea is too bizarre or too irrelevant. The purpose is to fuel the intuitive process for alternatives.
5. Combinations and improvements are encouraged.

Begin to write/type out your impressions. After 15 minutes, examine your list of intuitions, combine similar ideas and eliminate the absurd and implausible. Finally, take a few minutes to incubate your intuitive before rejoining the group via the MessageBoard.

note: Your Unique Thread: PsiDev-- PSV109