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Saturday, August 14, 2010

When the Inner Voice Speaks, it's time to Listen

Before some of you write me off thinking I have lost it, this is not just a philosophical musing but has implications on our work life as well. And is inspired from Gladwell's "Blink".
And The Secret. And Deepak Chopra. And Robin Sharma. And Buddhism. And Art of living. Not to forget the Assamese Kirtan.

Listening to the Inner Voice is not easy.Most times, we mistake our own thoughts as the Inner Voice. I would like to define the Inner Voice as the most spontaneous thought or response to a problem or conflict or an answer we are seeking consciously or subconsciously. It is our Instinct.

Inner Voice is not religious. Though I personally find it easier to isolate it just after my prayers, maybe because the mind is less clouded. And there is a fair amount of logic to it. The Instinctive or Inner Voice is a response we have as a result of all our experience, our information absorbtion, our observations. It is our mind churning and processing all that we have garnered on any subject or related subjects and coming up with the most apt response. So there is nothing magical about it.

What is magical however is that the Inner Voice can give us answers that we consciously fail to arrive at . Because the subconscious mind is said to be much more powerful. That is why the Inner Voice is often refered to as the Voice of God.

The Instinctive Response is something most successful marketers use for that ultimate decision. We can have all the focus groups and research but at the end of the day, we need to take that all important call. Ourselves. Not leave it to a collective summation of consumers and research. This is what Gladwell also refers to with great examples in Blink!.

Some of the ways in which we can train ourselves to hear our Inner Voice are:
a) Give ourselves a couple of minutes of silence and solitude. Silence energises us and empowers us to think, to churn, to isolate thoughts and to reconnect with ourselves. We can be more responsive to the Inner Voice when we are in silence. Even at work, it just means a few minutes of silence when we are faced with a problem.

b) Listen. The Art of Listening is very important. When we start listening to others, we can also start listening to ourselves."When we listen creative waters flow".

c)Start acting.The best way to react to our Inner Voice is to start acting. The more we act and respond, the more confident we become. After all it is us we are listening to. Not anyone else.

d)Identify Heartscapes. Of ourselves. Our consumers. I had coined this term in my Chevening scholarship paper. To say that it is the heart that marketers should aim for and not just the mind. Heartscapes lodge feelings and emotions for our passions, relationships, bonds, hobbies, religion. Everything. Most times we buy with our minds but respond with our hearts. Understanding heartscapes bring us closer to the Inner Voice which is often the Voice of the Heart. It is Intuitive.

I started connecting with my Inner Voice when I lost my parents and was completely alone. When you have noone for advice, you try and find answers yourself. That's how it started. And today I am the most confident when I take my calls. Whether it is a business call or a call in life. Whatever be the consequences, these calls come from my heart.

I welcome your views on this one. Ciao.