🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 214 | Manage Your Mind | Intuition
February 2026
Week 212: Curated Conversation: Intuition
Week 213: Mind Your Business: Intuition
*Week 214: Manage Your Mind: Intuition
Week 215: What’s On My Mind: Intuition
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In the MindSweep this week:
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Collaboration: with Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce (First Friday of every month)
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“It Doesn’t Feel Aligned” Isn’t Intuition
​​Fear, Memory, and the Truth About Gut Feelings
A client recently looked at me straight in the face and confidently said, “I know this is my intuition. I just can’t raise my rates. It feels wrong.”
Looking at their business, there was no clear reason to stay at the same rates. They had over 15 years of experience, plenty of revenue opportunities, steady referrals without paid ads, and glowing testimonials. Still, they were earning at least 40 percent less than others in their field.
When we talked about increasing their rates, I noticed that their body shifted, their shoulders pulled forward, their breath got shallow, and their voice lowered.
“I just know my clients can’t afford it,” they said. “It doesn’t feel aligned.”
My brain-based strategy work is less about pushing and more about noticing. I’m wired to read patterns in energy, tone, pacing, and the subtle contractions that happen before someone has language for what’s actually going on. I could feel the difference between grounded, regulated knowing and a nervous system bracing for impact.
This wasn’t a calm, clear sense of 'this isn’t right for me.' It was a sign of tension.
So I asked a simple question: “When was the last time you raised your rates?”
They paused. “Eight years ago. And the minute I did it, a client left.”
And there it was.
What they thought was intuition was actually an old memory running in the background.
Their brain wasn’t evaluating the present market. It wasn’t integrating the current market demand, their experience, or their reputation. Instead, it was replaying one moment from eight years ago and protecting them from reliving it.
Raise rates. Lose the client. Not safe.
That pattern had been stored, compressed, and tagged with strong emotions. And every time they considered raising their rates, their nervous system hit play.
What Intuition Actually Is
This week, let’s look at what intuition really is, because it’s not magic and it’s not random.
Neuroscience says intuition is your brain quickly matching patterns without you realizing it. The brain stores past experiences as 'priors,' or quick models. When something new comes up, your nervous system checks if it’s similar to anything you’ve seen before.
If yes, you get that split-second sense of “this feels right” or “something’s off.”
Research shows that parts of the brain use stored memories to spot patterns very quickly.Studies also find that during sleep or rest, the brain replays and mixes past experiences, which helps create insights and those sudden 'aha' moments.
Intuition, in other words, is your nervous system’s compressed highlight reel of lived experience.
The more you’ve actually done, shipped, tried, failed, and improved in your field, the richer that highlight reel and your intuition become. This is why experienced founders often say, “I just know.” They’re not guessing. They’re drawing on thousands of small experiences accumulated over the years.
But here’s something important for entrepreneurs, especially those with ADHD:
Fear uses the same machinery.
When Fear Hijacks the Signal
Your nervous system is constantly scanning for safety and threat through a process called neuroception. This happens below conscious awareness. If the system detects danger, it shifts you toward sympathetic activation (fight or flight) or dorsal shutdown (freeze).
When you feel regulated, your mind can take in thoughts, feelings, and body signals all at once. That’s when your intuition works best.
When you’re dysregulated, your brain prioritizes survival.
Anxiety increases attention to possible losses. It biases interpretation toward negative outcomes. It amplifies risk signals and dampens reward signals. In that state, every decision gets filtered through:
How do I avoid harm? Rather than: What is actually true here?
My client’s body wasn’t reacting to today’s market. It was reacting to an old fear. Eight years ago, a client left after a rate increase, and that one event created a lasting protective response.
The brain learned: raising rates equals loss.
Because people naturally focus more on losses than gains, that single event felt much bigger than it really was.
Your intuition is only as reliable as the patterns it’s based on and your state of mind when you use it.
If your pattern library is outdated, your intuition is outdated. If your nervous system is dysregulated, your intuitive signal won’t be clear.
The ADHD Entrepreneur’s Edge (and Risk)
Now let’s layer in the ADHD brain, because this matters deeply for the community I serve.
People with ADHD often make connections that others miss. They spot patterns across different areas and notice opportunities quickly. In uncertain situations like running a business, this can be a big advantage.
Research suggests ADHD traits are linked to higher levels of opportunity recognition and intuitive decision-making in obscure contexts.
But challenges with focus and planning can make step-by-step thinking harder. When under pressure or feeling emotional, it’s easy to settle for a quick answer that just feels 'good enough.'
The sequence can look like this:
Pattern hit: emotional charge: immediate action.
That quick thinking can build businesses. It can also burn them down.
The goal isn’t to ignore your intuition. It’s to pause briefly between your gut feeling and your actions, so you can check if it’s true clarity or just a reaction to stress.
Updating the Pattern in Real Time
With my client, we started with calm, safe regulation. Before we talked numbers, we talked about the nervous system.
Feet on the floor. Slow exhale. Longer than the inhale. Letting the body know it was safe in this moment. Intuition clarifies when the body feels safe.
Then we separated the memory from the present data.
What is your current retention rate? Ninety-two percent.
How many referrals have you had in the past year? More than ever before.
What are comparable providers charging? Twenty to fifty percent more.
What feedback have you received recently? “Worth every penny.” “Underpriced for the value.” “I would have paid more.”
The old pattern from eight years ago no longer matched current reality. But because it had never been consciously updated, it was still driving choices and decisions.
We didn’t make any big changes right away. For entrepreneurs with ADHD, having some structure helps sharpen intuition. So we used a simple process:
Scan: pattern guess: small test: upgrade the model.
Their pattern guess was: I can’t raise rates without losing clients. Instead of doubling their prices overnight, they raised them by twenty percent for new clients only. That was the small test.
Three new clients signed within two weeks.
No negotiation.
No pushback.
No dramatic exit emails.
Their nervous system updated and from there, a new memory formed:
Raise rates: clients stay: safe.
This is how intuition becomes sharper. Not through thinking harder. Through lived, regulated experimentation and feedback.
Fear vs. Refined Intuition
I encourage clients to track intuitive decisions explicitly.
What did I feel?
Was I regulated?
What action did I take?
What was the outcome?
Over time, you begin to notice the difference between decisions made out of fear and those that come from real understanding.
Fear feels urgent. It pushes. It narrows. It says, “Do something now or something bad will happen.”
Refined intuition feels calm and steady. It doesn’t rush you. There’s a sense of order instead of chaos.
A month after raising their rates, they said, “I thought this would feel terrifying. It actually feels solid.”
That word matters. Solid.
There was no dopamine spike of impulsive relief, no adrenaline-fueled rush. Just grounded confidence. That’s what happens when cognitive insight, emotional alignment, and bodily safety integrate.
Head, Heart, Gut — and an Updated Model
From a neuroentrepreneurship lens, founder decisions are shaped by what some describe as a three-brain system: head, heart, and gut. Cognitive analysis, emotional attunement, and interoceptive sensing all contribute to this process.
When these parts work together, decisions feel clear. If one part, usually the survival instinct, takes over, your sense of what to do can get confused.
For creative entrepreneurs with ADHD, the strength is seeing patterns and the big picture quickly. The risk is acting too soon, before you’ve calmed your body or tested your ideas.
The answer isn’t to overthink everything. It’s to build habits that help you stay calm and learn from feedback, so your intuition keeps improving.
Intuition is learned from experience. Fear is learned from experience, too.
The difference is whether the experience has been updated.
When I work with clients, I don’t push them. I pay attention to where they seem stuck in old stories and ask questions to help uncover the real pattern beneath.
Often, what people call intuition is really just an old survival strategy that hasn’t been updated.
Managing your mind isn’t about ignoring your instincts. It’s about making them sharper.
Curate your experiences intentionally. Look for new ideas and spaces that help your brain grow.
Set up ways to get feedback so you can adjust.
Make sure you’re calm before making big decisions.
Keep track of your gut feelings to build self-awareness.
Pause briefly between insight and action.
And if you could use support with this, you're in the right place. I can help.
Intuition is strategy built from your real-life experiences.
Sometimes, the most intuitive thing you can do in your business is to stop playing it safe.
It’s about updating your patterns.
My questions for you this week:
What business decision are you avoiding right now because it feels “unsafe,” even though part of you knows you’ve outgrown it?
What would it mean about you if the risk you’re avoiding actually worked?
Reply and share with me!
✨ You Belong Here. I can help.
If this resonated, it’s likely you’re not struggling with a lack of intuition.
You’re struggling with an outdated pattern running quietly in the background.
This is the work I do.
I help creative entrepreneurs, especially those with ADHD, separate fear-based memory from refined intuition. I help you regulate your nervous system before you make high-stakes decisions. I help you test your patterns and build feedback loops to sharpen your intuition.
If you’re under-earning, overthinking, or stuck calling contraction “alignment,” we can recalibrate that.
You don’t need to push harder. You need to update the model.
If you’re ready to stop playing small and start making decisions from grounded clarity, let’s work together.
👉 Book a free consultation to explore how I can support your business and your brain — as a strategist, creative partner, and thought-partner who actually gets how you’re wired
Curated Conversation
If this conversation resonated, you don’t have to sit with it alone. Curated Conversation is a weekly live space for heart-centered, ADHD-wired entrepreneurs to slow down, reflect together, and learn to distinguish intuition, conditioning, and fear disguised as logic.
If you’ve never joined us, your first month is free. Come sit in the room. Listen if you want. Speak if you’re ready. Stay if it feels like home.
Mondays at 8 a.m.
Start with coffee.
Belonging included.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
Words in bold within the Weekly MindSweep are all topics we’ve covered in Curated Conversation. You can dig into them here by searching for the word.
What I’m reading
Brain On Fire.
The title grabbed me; the story changed me.
Brain On Fire is a powerful memoir that tells the story of journalist Susannah Cahalan’s sudden struggle with psychosis, which was later found to be caused by a rare autoimmune disease called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. The book mixes medical mystery with personal storytelling, showing how easily identity and thinking can be shaken when the brain is affected. It also highlights how determination, science, and advocacy can help find answers when symptoms are overlooked. This memoir serves as both a warning about the limits of medical knowledge and a moving story of recovery, resilience, and the need to listen to patients.
Collaborations!
Join us Friday, March 6, 2025
Join Shannon and me at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce for a special session featuring the Chamber's own Luiza Barros De Oliveira, Marketing and Member Specialist, and Reyad Shah, President and CEO, for valuable insights on the power of networking and relationship-building.
Register now to reserve your spot!
Free: Registration is required: https://bit.ly/MWCoC_March2026
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