This blog post is specifically for reinventers who are quick thinkers and ‘guidance overriders’ (you know who you are!).

When I start to work with clients, one of our first objectives is to establish a good and true connection with the client’s inner guidance. As a coach, I don’t have the answers. The client always does. However, it’s common for a client to tell me that they can’t distinguish among all of the messages in their head to get a clear read on inner guidance. This is where I can help them develop a heart connection.

Many of my clients say that they can’t tell whether something ‘feels right’ to them or not.

If you want to be able to improve your capability to know whether something feels right to you or not (an essential navigational ability for reinventers), try practicing The 20 Second Rule.

The 20 Second Rule is: Hold your focus on something for 20 seconds and see how it feels to you. Check in with your heart, not just your mind.

It could be a next step, a direction that you are thinking of heading, or any decision.

We live at such a pace that we often make very quick decisions in our minds without ever pausing enough to feel them in our hearts.

Reinventers need to engage both their heads and their hearts. The mind is essential, but the only way to guide ourselves into our true path is by feeling our way with our hearts.

This takes some practice, especially for those of us who have put in a lot of time in environments where more traditional business models predominated, e.g. large corporations, financial services, legal institutions, etc. Places where good, accurate, quick thinking was valued and demanded.

Many of us have learned to override our hearts and our inner guidance.

In order to sense our heart’s guidance, we need to slow it down a bit and feel into our bodies and our senses. It takes both a different rhythm and an enhanced sensitivity to feeling.

By holding our focus for 20 seconds, with the intention of checking in with our hearts, we can better feel what is right for us.

Once you’ve made a habit of practicing this way of checking-in, begin to increase the time that you allow yourself to pause, savor, and check in with your heart.

Be patient with yourself in developing the ability to feel with your heart in addition to reviewing a decision in your mind. It takes time and practice. But it will really help you savor the journey.

Filed under: Your Compass, Tools on October 8th, 2007