What happens when you hear a new idea? You immediately form an opinion on whether it is a good idea.

How does this happen?

Since you’ve just heard the idea, you can’t possibly form a balanced and educated judgment on it.

You rely on your intuition; it’s a tool we all have.

I see two main parts to intuition:

• Knowledge

• Automatization 

Experiences (and your judgment of them) are the base of your knowledge. In addition, you acquire knowledge from others’ experiences (i.e., by reading a book).

And, it’s automatized by repeating your experience and knowledge acquisition many times.

Your intuitive knowledge lurks in your subconscious, ready to jump out when provoked.

Even though we all have and use our intuition, some have better intuitive judgments.

Why is this?

The process of “feeding” your intuitive faculty can be implicit or explicit. To have good intuition, you need to control the way you develop it.

Don’t let what happens influence your subconscious knowledge without going through a deliberate cognitive filter.

When you have an experience, take the time to think and discover what exactly happened. Why do you think you now know something new?

You also need to make sure that your new knowledge is well-integrated with your old knowledge. If there are contradictions, you need to decide what to keep, augment, or discard. No contradictions (or as few as you can manage) lead to better intuition.

The last aspect leading to better intuition is how long you have been at it. The more times you can feed your intuitive faculty in a controlled manner, the better (i.e., more precise) your intuition will become.

Experiences (personal or vicarious), explicit integration, and repetition, will lead you to better intuition.