We’ve all had a day when we knew something wasn’t quite right. Reflecting back on “what happened on a work day that was different” helps us validate our intuition. We can learn to trust our intuition. It helps us become more aware of situations that need our attention or keeps us safe.

My first use of intuition happened when I was in the 7th grade. As I walked home from school, I remember stopping in my tracks, and then looked at the pedestrian overpass bridge that I was about to walk under. I sensed that something was wrong. I continued to walk home with a sense of urgency. When I arrived at my house, my Aunt on my Father’s side, opened the door. She wasn’t a frequent visitor, so right then, I knew something was very wrong. She explained that my Father was in the hospital. My Mother was at the hospital with him. Sadly, his health deteriorated quickly. He died in the hospital within a few days.

At work, I’ve had several work experiences when my intuition was trying tell me something. Once, I was a department head in a company that was hit by a recession. The sales pipeline was drying up. I sensed the management team would start laying people off, but didn’t seem to want to make the cuts. After a few months of uncertainty, I went to work knowing that something wasn’t right. When I came into the office, I saw the CFO was running around with an intense look on his face. He was based in Bay-area office and now in our office? I knew the layoffs were occurring that morning. Around 10:00 am, my email stopped working. I patiently waited for the CFO to come into my office. He finally did, closing the door, and then proceeding to tell me that I was being laid off. My intuition was right.

I’ve learned to fine tune my intuition in my personal and work lives. I’m able to set fear aside, as I try to focus and sense what’s going to happen. I’ve had practice at this, since my first memory of using intuition was in the 7th grade. I now use it as a survival skill. I’ve learned to use intuition, as a another scenario to factor in, as I try to understand situations.

What happened on your work day that turned out to be different? What can you learn from looking back? Did you invalidate your intuition in that moment? If so, why? If you don’t use your intuition today, give it a try. It can become a useful tool that helps you become more aware of work situations that aren’t quite right. Intuition is a way for you to detect changes or events that may impact you.

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12 Questions for Career Mindfulness Series

The 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness Series reflects on twelve questions to help you reflect about the course of your career. Perhaps once you see your answers, you’ll see patterns or maybe you won’t. These questions conjure up memories of jobs that may still create some undercurrent of discomfort. I hope some questions validate your strengths or your weaknesses, while some questions provoke a memory that you thought you forgot.

1. How was the first day of your last job? How was the last day of your first job?
2. If you wrote an email to yourself on attitude adjustment, how would it read?
3. What things did you do or love as a child that explains how your work today?
4. Write about a phone call that changed everything in your life.
5. Write about the book that changed everything in your career.
6. If you could ask a former boss a question you wanted to ask, what would that question be?
7. Have you experienced a painful loyalty?
8. What happened on a workday that was different?
9. How did it all go wrong so fast?
10. What if you didn’t get that job?
11. What is the elephant in the room?
12. What if you finally get to do what you always wanted?

I’ll post one question on career mindfulness per work day for the rest of June 2009. For previous entries in this series, click here.

Similar Posts:

• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #12 What if you finally get to do what you always wanted?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #11 What is the elephant in the room?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #9 How did it all go wrong so fast?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #6 If you could ask a former boss a question, what would you ask?
• 12 Questions for Career Mindfulness: #2 If you wrote an email to yourself on attitude adjustment, how would it read?