Steven Sisler: Developing Your Intuition
Steven is a behavioral analyst who looks like a hard-driving entrepreneur. He’s tall, bald, and has a commanding presence. But Steven doesn't count himself in that camp. "I’m not an entrepreneur. I just don’t like being told what to do,” he says.
I’ve had the privilege of seeing him work and interviewing him on the topic of intuition. I can confidently say that whatever he wants to call himself, he is – at the very least – an entrepreneur-whisperer, and he gets to use his intuition every single day in his work.
Steven provides DISC assessments through his company, The Behavioral Resource Group. Many of you probably know what DISC assessments are, but for those who don’t, DISC behavioral profile assessment tools focus on four different behavioral traits: dominance, inducement, submission, and compliance. It was developed by psychologist William Moulton Marston, and is now one of the most popular assessment tools out there.
Steven gives DISC assessments for a living. Big deal in itself? Not really, there are plenty of places that do that.
But Steven’s secret weapon, and what makes him scary accurate, is his intuition. In his interview on Find Your True North Podcast (released today, listen on iTunes or Soundcloud), he shares how his intuition started at a young age and how he has developed it into an incredible tool for helping his clients.
And he’s good. Really good.
To give you a brief glimpse of what he can do, Steven is able to look at a DISC graph and know more about what’s going on in a person’s life than could ever be revealed in the test itself. But he’s also been doing this for years… so he has a combined arsenal of intuition, pattern recognition, and experience. Read on for a few of Steven’s insights on the topic of intuition and how you can develop your own inner voice.
Intuition and the Limbic Brain
Through his years of experience (and he’s been aware of his intuition since he was 12), Steven believes intuition comes from the limbic system, no matter how developed (or undeveloped, for that matter) it is.
In his view, intuition starts out as that protective piece necessary for survival. We see the snake in the grass and our heart and breath catch for a moment, stopping us from moving forward. After a moment, we can see that it was really a garden hose… but it’s that initial response that is designed to save our lives.
When we develop our inner voice and pay more attention to it, we’re able to refine that response and act on it in a more conscious way. He calls this using “heart moves.” Heart moves allow the limbic system to call most of the shots without letting the intellect interfere.
He practices this himself. When it comes to working with clients, it’s all heart moves. “I tell them here’s what you need to do and why. I don’t think about it, I just know it,” he says.
The trick, however, is to eventually be able to combine heart moves and smart moves together.
Harnessing the Power of Intuition and Intellect
Through DISC analysis, Steven has found a way to use his logical and analytical brain alongside his intuition. He uses DISC as the intellectual framework for presenting his insights to his clients.
According to Steven, “using heart moves and smart moves” together is the key to an incredible life. Alone, neither one of those skills is good enough. Together, those skills give you the tools you need to guide you to making better decisions. You must train yourself to discern when to use your intuition and when to seek out someone smarter than you.
Developing Intuition
Developing intuition is a very simple formula according to Steven: trial and error. And what’s more, you need to make note of the errors you make. If we don’t use our intuition and the guidance we receive, we will lose it. If you use your intuition, it will strengthen.
Using Altered States Of Consciousness
Steven uses his dreams as intuitive tools. He’s learned through the years that his dreams have meaning for him or another person if they are very vivid and detailed. If they’re not vivid or clear, they are likely just his subconscious brain trying to process something that happened during his day.
It’s not just the dreams that are important to notice, either. It’s the state just before he fully wakes that has a huge impact on his work.
For example, when Steven has an upcoming speech to prepare for, he won’t work on it until the day before the speech. But what he might do is think about it in that pre-conscious state just before he becomes fully awake. The words he says in that state of mind are better than any he could come up consciously. Once he fully wakes, he will write down everything that came to him in that state of mind.
Steven Sisler is a Master Level Behavioral Profiler and owner of The Behavioral Resource Group. As an author, speaker, and consultant, Steven helps his clients develop strategies for effective leadership, teamwork, and entrepreneurial success. With clients in over 18 different countries, Steven is known among his clients as the “go to” source for behavioral issues within the framework of business, family, and career.
