For Men Only…

You must train your intuition – you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide.
-Ingrid Bergman, movie star

This book would not be complete without some observations on how women make more and better use of intuition. Even today, in the modern world men are more likely to be raised to pay little attention to their emotions – especially Gutfeeling, intuition, and inner feelings. More and more male managers are able to escape this trap. That says a lot about our society. It is gradually changing – and about time, too!

Women do pay more attention to their emotions than men. They are able to combine their thought processes with their intuitions. They do this, I believe, ‘instinctively’. This is not to say that women are not capable of cold, hard, analytic, so-called ‘scientific’ thinking. But they seem able, even in the midst of tremendous social pressures, to maintain their ‘Emotional Quotient’. And merge it with their modern business thinking.

Read more of Gutfeeling…..
Peter Urs Bender, Author

EGO

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.
-Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

We all know people with gigantic egos. Their heads are so swelled they’ve outgrown the largest hat size available. They talk more about themselves than you can stand to listen to, and they think they are the only ones down here on earth. Me, myself, and I seem to be the only words they know.

Long ago we thought the Earth was flat and the universe revolved around it. Some might still think so. Even though we now know the Earth is just a little speck in nowhere, lots of us still feel that way. We all still strive to be the center of the universe. There’s nothing wrong with thinking of yourself as being ‘at’ the center of everything. After all, your view of the world starts with the speck that is you in the universe.

Read more of Gutfeeling…..
Peter Urs Bender, Author

LEADERSHIP

A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
-Lao Tsu, philosopher

Leadership is something that can’t be learned academically or intellectually. Its principles can be taught, but you can’t learn how to lead from a book. Nevertheless, thousands of books have been written about doing so, including one of my own.

If you look at my book Leadership from Within, you will see that embedded in the title is the key to all my advice. To study leadership, you need to lead, but you can’t lead others until you can lead yourself.

Here is a useful illustration of the two types of leadership: Take a short, three-inch piece of string. Lay it out on the desk in front of you. Then pull it along the desk by one end. You can make it go anywhere and it will follow you. Now try pushing it. The string will pile up and – nothing happens!

Leadership is not about pushing anyone except yourself. But you pull others along if you set a good example.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

PROFIT - from GUTFEELING

Also known as net income, profit is the sum remaining after all expenses have been met or deducted; synonymous with net earnings and with net profit or net loss (depending on whether the figure is positive or negative).
-Jerry White, business consultant

Profit is not a four-letter word. It’s six. And without profit, or gain, we have to close the show.

Everything in the universe runs on the profit system. If a church, synagogue, or temple wants to stay in business it needs more new souls. That can be considered the ‘profit’ on its work. No profit – No show. There are commentators today who are afraid this is happening. A church, just like a business, must downsize if it’s not keeping its members.

Most of us go to work to bring home a livelihood. If you’re smart enough to keep something of what you earned, you can say you’ve ‘shown a net profit’. I have never yet met anyone who was under-worked and overpaid. Yet I have discovered that a lot of people who earn a lot of money are in a lot of debt.

I see spirituality as the unconscious becoming conscious. The more ‘profitable’ the unconscious can become, the more assets our conscious will have.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

INSTINCT

Instinct – Animal
Intuition – Woman
Logic – Male
-Anon., 1232 A.D.

When we think of instinct we think of animals and of being preprogrammed from birth. We explain it as the migrating instinct of birds and the survival instincts of animals. There is no question that animals do incredible things by instinct that seem amazing.

But humans are creatures of instinct, too. We don’t fall out of bed (most of the time). We breathe even when we sleep. We don’t break wind in front of strangers. We digest our food without thinking about it. We do it by instinct. We call it ‘subconscious behavior’.

Instinct and Gutfeeling go hand in hand. What we do by instinct, we do unconsciously. Think of the ‘fight or flight’ response. In humans the response can be so strong we react even without thinking about it. But sometimes neither fight nor flight responses are appropriate. That’s when it most pays to take a step back and consciously make a decision.

The more your decisions become conscious, the more appropriate your actions will probably be. Gutfeeling, while intuitive in nature, I see as the subconscious becoming conscious. The more conscious your decisions become, the less you have to worry about an instinctual response getting you into trouble. Try to develop your Gutfeeling. Make more use of it to help enrich your life.


Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

Black Monday

The difference between playing the stock market and the horses is that one of the horses must win.
-Joey Adams, comedian

Mondays, traditionally, are bad days. Many heart attacks occur Monday morning. It’s a heavy day for traffic accidents, too. In our culture Monday becomes Doomsday. Compare that with Friday, when TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) becomes the mantra. Why?

That Monday is always ‘black and blue’ is a wry commentary on the way we live. If you hate your job so much you dread going back to it at the beginning of the week, what are you doing about it?

There were two Black Mondays in the last two decades of the 20th century, one on October 19, 1987, and one almost exactly ten years later on October 27, 1997. They were days when investors felt like jumping out of the windows of tall buildings.

I know it’s one thing to say, ‘I hate this place’, and something else to say to yourself, ‘I’m going to get out of here’. But if every Monday is a Black Monday, start taking steps to get out of the environment you’re in. Actively look for other opportunities. Remember, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten!

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

ABERGLAUBEN - from Gutfeeling

Negative superstition reinforces bad luck!
-Peter Urs Bender

Aberglauben is the German word that means ‘superstition’. Be careful what you wish for. Your wish might be granted!

I have also read that you become the thing you most think about. However, I must say that is not always true because during the early part of my life I thought mainly about women…

I don’t believe in superstition. Except on Friday the 13th, which is my lucky day And I’m careful what I wish for. Also, I never walk under ladders. Something might fall on me!

Actually, what I do believe is that you should be superstitious, if it brings you luck! Superstition, seen in that light, is your spirit talking to yourself. I like to think of it as your subconscious talking to your conscious, and telling you to ‘be careful’. I also like to think of it as your unconscious talking to your conscious and telling you to ‘take a chance’.

Thought of in that way, Aberglauben is a positive force. It’s a great way of putting you in touch with your own spirit. We all get a little superstitious from time to time. Even if we don’t believe in it with all our hearts.

Excerpt from Gutfeeling
Author, Peter Urs Bender

Why the name Gutfeeling?

The reason I call this book Gutfeeling is because I have trouble with the word spirituality. Whenever I hear the word ‘spirit’, it makes me want to pack up and go. I would have left at an earlier stage of my life. The minute anyone started to talk about ‘spirituality’, or ‘spiritual values’, I would simply turn away saying, ‘That’s not for me’.

That reaction seems strange to me now, but it’s understandable. The minute one talks spirituality most think they’re talking ‘religion’. There are so many conflicting religions and religious beliefs floating around. The idea of becoming involved with their bureaucracies seems like a giant waste of time.

However, you can be spiritual and not religious. The point I’d like to make is this: Spirituality does not come from religion. Religion comes from spirituality. A major definition of religion says it is ‘an institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices’. The emphasis is on the ‘institutionalizing process’. You can be ‘religious’ and be ‘spiritual’ at the same time.

In fact, I believe it was religious practice that presented the aspect of spirituality in a way that made me turn away from it. Institutionalized spirituality tends to create a whole hierarchy of ‘beings’ in order to explain its beliefs. Spirituality, on aspect of that, was presented as: ‘What happens when you die? Where does your spirit go?’ Frankly, I believe when you die, you die. The show is over. End of story. However, assuming there might be a reincarnation – I will come back, no argument!

Buy Gutfeeling today.