How to Follow the Hunch In Life and In Building Products (And 4 Practical Frameworks for Learning to Trust Your Intuition)

Intuition is a superpower and many people don’t use it as much as they should.

"Follow the hunch"

Elle Beecher said this on the last Board Walks I went to (basically saying listen to your intuition).

This combined with signs you identify from the universe are a killer combo for navigating life.

My thinking is this:

1. Signs from the outside are projections of the inside(our consciousness, unconscious, emotions, etc.).

2. The fact that it stood out to us is more significant than what the sign actually was.

3. Think of signs as universe prompts—for us to pause, reflect and be curious about the reasons we find that sign significant.

4. Then follow the hunch to the next place.

If you can learn to listen to your intuition, you will find yourself dancing with life in a positive way.

Do you struggle to trust yourself? Do you spend more time deliberating on what you should do instead of doing it? Do you wish things just “flowed’ more easily?

Well, that’s what I’m here to talk about with you today. I’m going to tell you why intuition is important, how it impacts us in life and in product building, and then I’ll go over four frameworks you can try to help hone your intuition.

Let’s jump in.

Intuition Helps You Navigate Life with More Ease

Follow your: gut, instinct, intuition—whatever label you want to use. It all comes back to that feeling inside yourself that gives you hints as to what is the “right” action to take is.

Edwin Land tells us that instinct represents a raw, unfiltered form of intelligence because it lacks self-consciousness.

You aren’t burdened by deliberation or reflection. Your actions are automatic.

You will save yourself countless hours of deliberation if you can tap into this form of intelligence (intuition), making you move about the world in a more efficient and effective way.

The Hunch Also Applies to AI Products We Build

In the same way we get hunches in life, we get them in things we build.

You may not have all the right answers.

That's okay.

Learn to trust your intuition for what you are building.

• Are people giving you feedback that indicate you're on the right track?

• How do YOU feel about what you're building?

• Can you feel this going somewhere?

It is especially important to follow product intuition today—AI is making everything on the utility axis pretty much a level playing field.

And, your "hunches" may not be great or correct at all in the beginning.

Intuition is a muscle that needs to be trained—the only way to train it is to use it.

If you train and learn to listen to your intuition, you'll be a real life superhuman. You feel connected to yourself and the world simultaneously.

This all sounds amazing, but maybe you’re wondering:

“How do I learn trust my intuition?”

That’s what we will talk about next.

4 Practical Frameworks For Learning to Trust Your Intuition

Here, I will share four frameworks I use for honing my intuition and break each of them down.

1. North Star Reflection

Main Idea: Aligning your actions and decisions with your life's purpose, values, and talents to ensure a fulfilling and authentic path.

Example from my life:

There was a time in late 2023 where I had to do some serious reflection on my life.

I had been running full speed in startup world (both at some and doing my own).

During a lull in my adventure I was approached to join a new startup and I said “yes” before I could even give myself enough time to think—I was lacking direction at the time and wanted something to grab onto.

My time there was short. But, it was a forcing function for me to really reflect on my North Star. 

I had kept my head down so long I didn’t pick it up enough to know if the direction was something I wanted.

So, I cracked open my laptop and typed away in my notes folder—stream of consciousness desires, wants, fears, description of my life situation, etc.

It helped a ton to get these thoughts all out of my head and clarified into written word.

Then, I asked myself these questions before deciding to leave the startup and continue to do what I’m doing now:

• “Does this actually add value to my goals?”

• “Am I growing as a person here?”

• “How does this role make me feel in my gut?”

• “What would I do if I had the choice?” ( This is one is great because once you answer it, you just tell yourself “oh wait, I can make a choice”)

I looked at my notes I had written down during this questioning too. It was clear to see that what was in my heart was not compatible with what I was doing—I was out of alignment.

I didn’t have any other evidence but the subjective experience and feelings I had about my situation.

I listened to myself and decided to leave the startup with no real plan in mind aside from the vague idea of YouTube, build something, etc.

Making this decision forced me to reflect even more on myself and what I want out of life.

It also gave me more confidence in my ability to stand up for my own intuitions more which has helped immensely in my quality of life.

High-level steps to get started:

1. Define your life's purpose, core values, and unique talents.

2. Before making a decision or taking action, pause and reflect on how it aligns with your North Star.

3. Trust your intuition and make choices that feel authentic and meaningful to you .

Benefits:

• Greater sense of purpose and fulfillment in life and work

• Increased confidence in decision-making

• Improved self-awareness and understanding of one's values and goals

2. Flirting With Myself

This is about having a playful mindset where you express genuine curiosity about what YOU want to do.

Main Idea: Cultivating a playful, curious, and self-prioritizing mindset to explore and honor your own desires and interests.

Example from my life:

When I first heard about the Board Walks, I felt this resistance to going.

It was a new thing, and part of me just wanted to stay in my comfort zone. But then I decided to flirt with myself a little.

I said:

"Michael, do you want to go for a walk on Saturday? It could be fun, you might meet some new people, and plus, you'll get your 10k steps in. Worst case, you got some sunshine and exercise."

By playfully persuading myself, I decided to give it a shot. And man, am I glad I did.

At the walk, I found this group of people who were all so genuinely curious and interested in finding truth, answering life's big questions, and learning more about themselves and others—It was like I'd found my tribe.

Now, these Board Walks have become a recurring event on my calendar, pretty much forever, I'm pretty sure.

And I'll be honest, they're becoming one of the highlights of my week—I leave energized, I make new friends, and I just feel good.

Through this experience, I've learned to:

• listen to other people more

• listen to myself more

• be more comfortable with who I am.

And it all started with a little self-flirtation, asking myself what I really wanted to do, despite that initial resistance.

That's the power of flirting with yourself.

It lets you start to answer those questions that your intuition is posing. And honestly, when I did that, my answers didn't reflect that initial resistance at all.

Deep down, I knew I wanted to meet new people, I knew this was something I should do. It was like my inner voice saying, "Hey, you should check this out."

Give yourself the space to be playful, curious, and to listen to that inner wisdom, even (and especially) when you feel that resistance.

That resistance is fear of the unknown.

When you can move past that, and tune into what you really want, magic happens.

High-level steps to get started:

1. Set aside some time for reflection and exploration (take a walk, drive, lay down on the couch, etc.)

2. Ask yourself what you want—genuinely ask.

3. Give yourself permission to be honest about your desires. This is a zero judgement zone. You need to feel comfortable enough with yourself to have an unfiltered response.

Benefits:

• Increased sense of self-worth because you start to take care with your own interests.

• Better relationship with your intuition—if you’re in conversation with yourself more often, you get a sense of what you want.

3. Intuition Experimentation

Seek out new opportunities to test and strengthen your intuition.

Main Idea: Actively seeking out opportunities to test, strengthen, and refine one's intuition through practical experiences and calculated risks.

Example from my life:

AITX was an experiment for me.

In early 2023, I met one of my co-founders of AITX (Jake O’Shea) at a SxSW event.

We both had been into AI at that time so got to talking about what we were up to, the topic of an Austin community for AII—we really wanted to start one just to connect and learn more about AI with others.

We were shocked to find out there weren’t that many established ones aside from some for the purely technical.

We just decided we should throw one and see what happens.

A little over a year later, and AITX is one of the larger AI communities in Austin (and still growing).

Through this experiment I learned a few things about myself:

• I really enjoy people and building communities (both online & IRL).

• I love helping people on their life adventure—we try to help any community member with what they need as much as we can.

But…

The biggest takeaway for me is that I followed this endeavor by first treating it as an experiment to give my inner voice a scenario to speak to me.

And as I kept working on it, the voice grew louder—telling me “this feels right”.

Through this community I’ve:

• Come out of my shell again.

• Made more friends in Austin.

• Connected more people with each other.

• Felt a deeper sense of purpose—growing the Austin AI ecosystem (and the rest of Texas for that matter).

My quality of life has significantly improved and I would credit this community as to one of the reasons why.

All from an experiment and listening to my intuition.

High-level steps to get started:

1. Identify areas in life where you can apply your intuition (e.g., relationships, career, personal growth).

2. Start with small, low-risk decisions and gradually increase the stakes as you build confidence.

3. Keep a record of your intuitive hunches and the outcomes to track your progress and learn from your experiences.

Benefits:

• Strengthened intuitive skills and increased trust in one's instincts

• Improved decision-making and problem-solving abilities

• Greater adaptability and resilience in the face of challenges

4. Grappling With the Resistance Paradox

Main Idea: The Resistance Paradox involves discerning the protective instinct of our egos (often due to fear or discomfort) and the more insightful gut feelings that guide us toward or away from decisions for more profound reasons.

Example from my life:

Moving to Austin from Upstate NY is an example of following intuition from my life.

It was a new city and I had no friends when I moved. I knew moving here also meant ending some relationships I had too.

I was anxious about the dramatic change to my life, but this little voice in my head kept telling me “You know you need to go”—and I did.

I felt that being in a bigger city and getting out of my comfort zone was a necessary step for my growth.

So, I made the jump. And now, three years after moving, I can say 100% that moving to Austin has set my life on a different and better trajectory than the one I would have had if I had never moved.

High-level steps to get started:

1. Notice when you're feeling resistance—Label it as either fear-based (ego) or intuition-based.

2. Investigate the source of your resistance. Ask yourself, "Is this fear trying to protect me from harm, or is my intuition guiding me towards what's truly right for me?"

3. Test the resistance against your core values and long-term goals. Ego-driven fears don't hold up against these. While genuine intuitive signals usually align.

4. Discussing your feelings with someone you trust can help clarify whether your resistance is ego-driven or intuitive. Don't take their advice as gospel, just use them as a sounding board.

5. If the resistance is ego-driven, follow the lean into it and do what you are resisting . If it's intuition, consider what it's trying to tell you and how you can heed its guidance.

Benefits:

• Greater confidence in your actions

• In alignment with your true self more often

• Increased connection to the universe

What’s Your Hunch?

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ve gained some insight into the power of intuition and how it can guide you in both personal life and building products.

Intuition is an essential tool for navigating the rapidly changing world of AI—the utility of products becomes a given because AI makes them easy to build.

It’s your unique intuitions (hunches) that can set you apart and create more engaging, meaningful user experiences.

But remember…

Intuition is a muscle that needs to be exercised just like any other.

My hope is that you can take one of the four frameworks I presented here today and carry it forward in your journey to strengthening your intuition.

Before I go, I want to leave you with a question:

What’s your hunch?

What is your intuition telling you about your life or product? I’d love to hear any stories you have so feel free to message me on X.

That’s all for now. ‘Til next time, much love and peace y’all 🤠