It’s Monday, 8.22am.

I’m running late for the office.  Again.

As my hand hits the front door of my flat, a feeling bubbles up inside me.

I stop.  It’s not a feeling I have all that often, but I know it well.

It’s a feeling that says:

Tom, you’ve forgotten something

I start thinking.

I know I’ve got my backpack, my chocolate bar, my water and my apple.  I tap my pockets and I feel my phone, my work pass, my headphones and my keys.

I’ve got everything I can think of.  And after that 20 second interlude, I’m now running even later.

So I leave the flat, jump in the lift, hit the button and I’m on the way to the ground floor.

That’s when the same feeling hits me again.

Tom, you’ve forgotten something

Then it dawns on me.  I’ve left my glasses behind.

My glasses are a recent purchase after an overdue visit to the optician.  They’re still not part of my pre-work routine.

But out of nowhere, I’ve been given a gentle nudge that I’ve forgotten them.

Some might call this nudge an instinct or intuition.  Others might call it a knowing or an inner wisdom.

But it doesn’t really matter what you call it.

What matters is that this knowing exists.  That it’s a tool we have in our toolbox.  And that we can use it for everything from getting reminders to figuring out a next step, to making a decision to solving a knotty problem.

I know there will be rational types reading this email thinking but why don’t you make a list Tom?  That way you’ll never forget anything when you leave your flat.

Fair point.

There can certainly be advantages to getting stuff out of our heads and onto a list.

Just like there can be advantages to using a spreadsheet to figure out our next step, a pros & cons list to make a decision or a flow chart to solve a tricky problem.

But systems like these often felt mechanical, formulaic and scripted to me. 

I realised I’d gone too far when I started keeping lists of the lists I was making.  The next step would’ve been a list of the lists of the lists, which even to my systematic tastes seemed rather over the top.

Nowadays I have a different perspective on all this.

In essence:

Why would I look to lists outside me when I can look to guidance from within me?

Why would I use a pre-made system when I can call on real-time, in the moment guidance?

And why would I take charge of creating reminders, analysing my next steps, crunching through options and making pros & cons lists when my own knowing is doing all this perfectly already?

And it is doing it perfectly.

The notion I’d left something in my flat bubbled up from nowhere.  So did the exact item I’d left.

In both cases I was given what I needed when I dropped my thinking, stopped trying to interfere and let my knowing do its job.

My claim:

Not only does this knowing exist, but the more of a feel we can get for it and the more we start to trust it, the more life flows and unfolds in a way which is perfect for us. 

Maybe you have a sense of what I’m referring to.

Maybe you even have an example of your own.  An example where you were handed what you needed when you stopped trying to force it, let go and you let it come through you instead.

If so, I have an offer for you today.

Hit reply and email me with your example.  A couple of lines is fine – it doesn’t need to be war and peace.

In return, I’ll reply back. 

In my reply, I’ll list out three ways I use to call on and tap into this knowing whenever I'm looking for some clarity or direction.

Three ways which you can use too, if you like.

That’s all for today.

 - Tom