Trusting Your Gut
Consultant, coach and author, Sunil Godse, talks about the business of intuition, internal indicators and lessons from Hollywood
SUNIL GODSE IS a business consultant, personal coach and author of two books, the more recent of which is Gut!, an examination of intuition. He runs Radical Solutions Group, a business coaching business and has just launched Intuitionology.com, a site designed to help people trust and follow their intuition. It offers quizzes and courses that go beyond business and delve into how people organize their lives and make important decisions. Godse grew up in Western Canada. He and his wife have two daughters. In addition to reading and watching movies, his more recent hobby is video editing, a skill he learned as he created the new site and interviewed people about their experiences.
You just launched Intuitionology.com, which follows your book, Gut!, about intuition. Was that always the plan—to follow the book with this project?
The plan was not to launch anything at all after the book. But my intuition showed me a vision of me interviewing another person with two cameras, a crew and some lighting, and that is exactly how my Intuitionology project was born.
What are your hopes and goals for the site?
The only goal I have had for the Intuitionology website is to ensure that every person has access to the proper advice, tools and techniques to stop ignoring their intuition. That will allow them to take advantage of the opportunities meant for them. Since launching the website in April, I have had over 500 courses purchased. And one of the videos I have published, which features Michael Jackson being discovered by the intuition of Quincy Jones, has been shared over 160 times with over 26,000 views.
How do the courses work?
The courses contain content that includes advice, based on over 25 years of experience coupled with reading hundreds of research articles, in addition to a set of proprietary tools and techniques. These are all combined with deeply personal stories shared by a number of the interviewees who talk about how intuition has impacted their lives. Once you complete the courses, you will have a deep understanding of your intuitive abilities, never having to ignore your intuition again in any situation.
Can intuition stop someone from doing something as easily as prompting someone to take action?
Intuition is always guiding you to take the right decision in any situation you face, and speaks to people through things I call internal indicators, which people feel, see or hear. Some examples include hearing a voice, experiencing a feeling in the gut area, the senses being heightened and, in one case, the left ear lobe getting hot. When intuition is trying to stop you from doing something, it will use one or more of these internal indicators, which will actually increase in intensity if you keep ignoring your intuition.
We understand generally what intuition is, but how do you define it?
Intuition is a phenomenon that has a scientific and abstract quality to it that acts in an instant in time to provide you with the right decision to make in any situation you face.
What’s your best personal anecdote about intuition?
Trusting my intuition has been directly responsible for having a successful career as an entrepreneur, whereas ignoring it resulted in me becoming penniless at a time when I was about to be married. Given these experiences, I will always trust my intuition in any situation to ensure I live a successful life.
Is it safe to assume different personality types would react and be affected differently by intuition?
There are four types of intuition people have some level of strength in: creative, situational, experiential and relational intuition. Based on your personality, as well as what you have been through and the people you have encountered in your life, you will generally be strong in one of these four types, which helps your intuition react more quickly in certain situations.
Have you noticed common themes or challenges from your work as a life coach?
The common theme is that each and every person knows exactly when they ignored their intuition, yet they continued to ignore it to get into the situation they found themselves in.
What’s the most interesting place where you’ve been asked to speak?
There are two interesting places. The first was in Niagara Falls as a keynote speaker for the Tutor Doctor organization where I spoke to over 1,000 franchisees from all over the world. The other was in Stockholm where I was a keynote speaker for DFK and made some contacts who are looking for me to speak in Dubai, Poland and India, which I am hoping to do once my schedule permits.
What’s the best movie or TV show about intuition?
This is a tough question because intuition is a deeply personal phenomenon. But, if I were to make a suggestion, those movies that seem to have clues in the movie, either overt or covert, may be more in tune with how your intuition works. That being said, I would suggest that the Mission Impossible and Jason Bourne movies, as well as the Netflix trilogy Department Q, are great candidates. 
Interview by Christopher Clark