Sleep On Your Decisions Before You Commit

I never make snap decisions about important issues. Even if the path seems very clear and I am totally positive, I still sleep on it. If I wake up in the morning and feel the same way about my decision then I am confident and positive and follow through with the required action. I must sleep on it and let it toss and turn in my subconscious mind until I get that feeling of certainty, that gut sense that I am right. Then, I forge ahead convinced and committed.

We all know that feeling, that inner sense of calm and certainty. The sixth sense, intuition, inner voice – whatever you want to call it – exists and we must learn to use it and accept it, listen to it and wait for the message. Wait, be patient, and follow your instinct.

A Harvard study once asked significant executives how they make decisions. The overwhelming answer was that after digesting enormous amounts of data, reports, and other information of all sorts, they then trusted their instincts and followed their inner voice, their intuition. Then they made their decisions. Information supported their gut instincts.

Sometimes sleeping on it, for me, means waiting for a week or two or even a month before I get that feeling, that sense of well-being that creeps over me when I express to myself what becomes the right answer. I try out different answers without committing to see how they feel and if my inner voice tells me it is right, if the calm and sense of well-being surfaces and clues me in that this approach is the correct one, the best one to take, I do it.

Once we understand this process we must learn to recognize it, harness it, and embrace it. We must understand the power. We do not have to explain it, name it, or have scientific support or evidence that it works. Trust it, we all have this sense, we simply must develop it by using it. It gets stronger with use. We get better at discerning the messages and sensing the feeling. It is as important as the information we rely on to logically make a decision.

Sometimes we try to fit a round peg into a square hole. It may seem to make sense based on the tangible information available but still it will not fit. Your intuition will tell you when it is not right. What I am describing is a way to help make certain that we are not forcing a round solution into a square problem. Trust your gut, it will not mislead you.

Sleep on your decisions, wake up and see how they feel. If it feels right, do it. If you feel nothing, or unsure, wait. Wait until you sense the right answer. Sleep on it first.