How Trusting Your Intuition Makes You More Productive

• How to recognize and strengthen your intuition
• The difference between intuition, fear, and overthinking
• Simple exercises to practice listening to your inner guidance
• A practical way to make decisions with more confidence and less doubt

“Our intuition is these beautiful nudges and pieces of information that are here to guide us along our journey to follow our most aligned path.”

“The more that they tuned in with their intuition, the more that they learned to really decipher what those messages meant for them and learn to trust themselves along the journey. The clearer their decision-making became.”

“If I stop, there is actually always something there if I take a moment.”

“When it is our intuition communicating with us, it tends to come through in a very grounded tone, a grounded energy. It feels very absolute, and it feels very spacious.”

“Intuition creates clarity, and it’s a clarity that comes from within or moves through us. It helps people say, ‘Okay, this is what I’m doing. I’m going to do it.’”

ANNE RAJOO

Do you ever get a gut feeling about something but brush it off because it doesn’t seem logical? Or find yourself second-guessing decisions, wondering whether it’s intuition or just overthinking?

In today’s episode, we’re diving deep into intuition—what it really is, how it shows up in our lives, and why learning to trust it can be a game-changer for productivity and decision-making. Our guest, Bonnie Casamassima, has extensively researched intution and interviewed highly intuitive individuals—everyone from doctors and CEOs to psychics and healers—about how tuning into their intuition has led to greater clarity, efficiency, and ease.

We’ll explore the different ways intuition speaks to us, how to distinguish it from fear or procrastination, and simple ways to strengthen this powerful inner guidance. If you’re ready to stop second-guessing and start trusting yourself more, this conversation is for you. Let’s dive in!

Welcome to the Peaceful Productivity Pod. And together, we redefine productivity and find your sweet spot where happiness.

You know, I’ve always been pretty skeptical about anything that falls into the ‘woo woo’ category. I like data. I like logic. I like having clear reasons for why I do what I do. So, when I would hear people talking about intuition—especially using it for big decisions—I used to brush it off. Like, okay, but what’s the actual reasoning behind it? What’s the evidence?

Motherhood, though, changed that for me. It was the first area of my life where I really trusted my gut without questioning it. I just knew when something wasn’t right with my kid, even when there was no clear evidence yet. And more often than not, I was right. So that got me thinking—if I can trust my intuition so easily in parenting, why do I struggle to do the same in my work?

That’s why I loved today’s conversation so much. We talked about what intuition actually is—not just as some mystical force but as a real, practical tool that we can strengthen, just like a muscle. And I’ve been playing around with this myself.

One of the exercises Bonnie shared in the full recording which you can find in the show notes – it’s a simple way to check in with your intuitive responses and how to train your intuition. It starts with small, low-stakes decisions—like, “Do I want to eat this orange?”—and just noticing what your body says before your mind jumps in with logic. When I tried this for the first time, I was shocked by how strongly I felt a pull in one direction. Since then,I ’ve been practicing leaning into that feeling more and more.

And I have to tell you a quick story. A friend of mine, who is way more into the spiritual side of things than I am, once gifted me a crystal. She knew I’d be sceptical. But I’ve used this crystal several times. When I find myself in situations where I’m stuck between two choices, making pro/con lists, analyzing every angle—and still feeling unsure. If I’m honest with myself, I know what’s the right decision, but there would be fear clouding my self-trust and that’s when I’d use that crystal. Not as the decider, but as a way to listen to myself and find out which decision actually feels right.

So, if you’re like me—someone who leans on strategy and planning but struggles with trusting their gut—maybe try playing with your intution a bit. You don’t have to dive headfirst into the deep end. Just start with something light, like lunch. And see what happens.

And if you want the full exercise and a deeper dive into using intuition in your work, check out the full recording in the show notes.

Now let’s hear from Bonnie!

BONNIE CASAMASSIMA

In a nutshell, I had my awakening, my intuitive awakening, where, what’s called clairvoyance, so my ability to see visuals, information, people, experiences, and for me and my mind’s eye opened up in a really powerful way. And it was about a seven-year journey of, you know, finding mentors and trying to understand. Okay, what is this? How do I embody this? How do I tell people about this? 

So along the way, I was at this crossroads that, okay, am I am by this research professor, or am I an intuitive medium? And a good friend of mine said, Bonnie, “Why not both?” Like, yes, you’re all of these things and this is where I am today. 

It’s such an honor to really combine all of that, and in the process, I led a research project where I interviewed 50 highly sensitive, intuitive empaths, psychics, and mediums from around the world on their journey connecting with their intuition and asking what their process was, and I’m excited to share a little bit about some of those findings today in this conversation. 

And what’s really powerful is that we are so far from alone in our intuitive abilities. In fact, I feel very passionately we’re all intuitive. Should be chosen to want to connect with it more fully. What did that look like? That’s our choice with it, but it’s a really powerful way in which I believe we’re able to connect with so much more than we maybe thought we were able to connect what I like to think about is our intuition is these beautiful nudges and pieces of information that are here to guide us along our journey to follow our most aligned and we can use whatever language we want. Call it universal consciousness. Call it connecting with our higher self, connecting with guides, whatever words or phrases really resonate with you, really listen to that and honor that, because that self-trust and that tuning in is something that’s really powerful along their journey.

Intuition comes in a lot of different ways. Right? People can see visual information, they can see orbs, they can see ancestors ,they can see synchronicities and numbers, seeing the same bird over and over and over again. Right it can come in a lot of different ways. People can also hear information. We talked about those gut feelings. People can get goosebumps, right? That’s called claircinience, when we can feel information in our physical body. So each of these has a name, and it starts with a Claire. So clairvoyance is a visual clairaudience is when people often will hear music or people’s voices, and it’s really important to hear that when we are receiving this intuitive information, that it feels really grounded in our bodies, right? So we really want to honor this deep knowing and really honor that self-trust. We are deeply wise people, beings, if we give ourselves permission to really listen to that. I think a lot of times, be it social conditioning, be it limiting beliefs; we don’t always listen to ourselves. We don’t always trust ourselves to know that next align decision. And I feel intuition is best described as really helping us to tune into that and follow it.

ANNE RAJOO

My life used to be incredibly fast-paced, always doing, doing, and never stopping for relaxation. When I think about the intuition now, I feel like there probably has been moments where there was something coming, but I just brushed it off as like, oh, this doesn’t make sense, because obviously my brain wants to make sense of things, data, analytical and all of that. And this is just weird. Well, let’s move on. You know, let’s, let’s get going with the things that we really have to do. And I think I wouldn’t, I would have not stopped in the past, whereas now I definitely have that knowing again, that like, if I stop, there is actually always something there if I take a moment. 

Again, it’s the whole get out of that hustle and bustle and doing mentality. This is obviously why I created the Peaceful Productivity. And maybe it’s a good point where we can lead over to maybe using intuition for, you know, efficiency and productivity? 

BONNIE CASAMASSIMA

Absolutely. And this is what came directly out of the research findings is shared, just to give a little context of the research, and it was 50 adults from all over the world, predominantly in the United States, but all over the world. And some of them were doctors, CPAs, nurses. There was a prison warden. We had Reiki Masters, healers, practicing mediums as well, but we had people that were deeply in tune with their intuition, that were in so many different sectors of the world and of professions. And over and over and over again, they talked about the more that they tuned in with their intuition, the more that they learned to really decipher what those messages meant for them and learn to trust themselves along the journey. The clearer their decision making became, the more rapid they were able to understand a strategic plan and then work to implement it within their organization, because of that clarity, because of that focus. So to tie directly back to your question of, how are they connected, or do I feel they’re connected? I feel absolutely they are connected. And it creates that clarity, and it creates that and it’s a clarity that comes from within or moves through us. Whatever we want to look at, it is that clarity of deep knowing and trust, and often it’s rooted in this very expansive energy, this very expansive collaborative, connected way of seeing the world that helps people with their productivity. It helps people be like, Okay, this is what I’m doing. I’m going to do it. 

Obviously, we’re humans. There’s a lot of things that we’re balancing, right? So is it going to, like, be the silver bullet? No, we still have to do our stuff. We have to do our work, right? That’s our commitment to this lifetime. But it is. It’s it. I would say one of the ways in which it links to productivity very directly is that clarity that comes from it, that inner knowing of like, okay, I was a research professor, and I knew along this journey it’s like, okay, I’m pivoting, and my passion is, how are we supporting each other and connecting with that deep knowing, that deep wisdom that many cultures around the world are connected to in their everyday lives? Is really only about kind of the last 400 or so years that we’ve learned to really shut it off for a range of reasons, but we’re seeing this really beautiful reopening, reconnection happening, and it’s exciting, really exciting time.

In the research people shared, having information come to them and in a wide range of ways. So it doesn’t just because maybe somebody has a little more of a visual sense, or somebody gets goosebumps all the time. It doesn’t mean that goosebumps are the only way that your intuition can communicate with you. So I want us to invite that possibility of we’re able to be connected so many different ways with this. And while you can really focus on one, if you would like, I invite us to have that space to be open, that it can come through visual insights. It can come through gut feelings. It can come through hearing information, right? So it can come in a wide range of ways. To answer your question with that one of those, how do I know if it’s just my thoughts or how is it? How do I know if it’s my intuition coming through? And again, listen to you. What does it feel like for you, deep in your knowing honor, that first and foremost, what we have found is that our analytical reasoning very powerful. We need it. It’s not a one or the other. It can be or maybe more egocentric thinking it can be very rapid and very kind of like higher stress, higher anxiety, and rooted in I need to do this. I need to do that. I need to do this. 

When it is our intuition, communicating with us, most often, it tends to come through in a very grounded tone, a grounded energy. It feels very absolute and it feels very spacious. It feels very anything is possible with this I am safe when I’m receiving this information, so it’s a different feeling, most often when it’s maybe an anxiety symptom or a stress response or our ego communicating, versus when our intuitive knowing comes in often, when it’s our intuitive knowing, it’s very succinct in its communication. It uses very short sentences as a way like they don’t have a lot of run on sentences. And it can often sound like that inner voice that you have running all the time. So just because it has the same quote, unquote sounding voice doesn’t mean it’s not your intuition just really listening. Is it really grounded? Does it feel safe in your body? Does it feel calm? It might be very exciting, right? It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be really excited about it, but that often is a way that we can distinguish between the two. 

ANNE RAJOO

And I feel that’s probably going to be part of the answer you would give me to my next question. So I think we spoke about it a while ago and going back to the productivity. So what I often see it is like, I’ve got certain things to do, got my plans, my to do this, all of that. And then obviously there are days where I just don’t really feel like doing the thing, and then I sit there and I’m like, Hey, is that my intuition? Maybe telling me that today, this is not the right day, or am I just procrastinating, and am I being lazy? So I’m curious to have your insights on that. And I sense like that’s part of the tuning into the body and how, how does my voice talk to me in that moment? Is it like the anxiety or the avoiding I don’t want to do this thing, or is it really the what you need right now? What voice talk to you?

BONNIE CASAMASSIMA

Yeah, and really similar to the previous response, but absolutely, what a beautiful question. And again, I can only, can only speak on the research participants’ experience and my own experience with it. But what people shared is that when it is intuitively guided, it tends to be something that is very clear. It’s very okay. This is time to rest. Our body is about to being overwhelmed. We’ve been going, going, going. Now is the time that we need to rest and really honor that. And ask, you know, how long does that rest need to be? But being very, being very honest with ourselves. Of what is the motivator behind this? Is it just because this thing that I’m procrastinating on is really scary for me and it stretches my comfort zone, honor that right? Like sometimes getting on the video can be really scary, right? As an example, I remember the first time I wrote a first blog post, I was so nervous about it, right? So really honoring yourself and your inner knowing of, Am I really procrastinating here, or is this my intuition guiding me to rest most often, I will say, always, but to be the researcher me most often when it is our intuition, it is something that is very much like this. Let’s go here. Let’s move forward. This is what we’re doing, and really listening to that, and being honest with ourselves and having complete compassion for the human experience over balancing so many things, especially you know, you’ve got beautiful children, and ours are teenagers, right? So it’s like, there’s a lot that we’re balancing, and sometimes our body just needs the rest, but, but using our intuition as a guide and support for that most aligned life and not something to be another thing that we’re procrastinating. 

ANNE RAJOO

What I take with me from that and from what you said before, I think is, for me, personally, asking more questions and asking the specific questions. I just thought that, how long does the rest need to be? I think this, for me, is a very good question, because often I don’t you know, like, I know I show it best, but I have all these things to do, and I only have so much time. But I think what then, in my mind, happens is, like, the best might be an hour or whatever, but maybe intuition will tell me just take five minutes and, you know, like, like, asking the question, I think this is really what I’m taking away from this. But yeah, I think it’s a good point to maybe shift gears and more so aware of the time. And I really want to see what you’ve got there in terms of the practical exercise to share about how intuition.

BONNIE CASAMASSIMA

Absolutely so the biggest one is learning that self-trust and keep trusting it. Another activity I’ll guide us through is using our intuitive yes and no’s, and this is really powerful for our decision-making. This is really helpful for improving our productivity and clarity and therefore efficiency with it, because we’re not spinning our wheels in a lot of ways. So that’s what’s so awesome about this, is that we often feel it. Sometimes we have gotten so disconnected from our body that we it can be really hard to tune into this. So I always want to hold so much compassion. But again, it is a muscle. So if maybe those that are watching the video didn’t notice anything, worry, not show up to it with the you know, do I want to eat this orange right? Just keep practicing it. Let yourself know that it’s very safe to tune into the wisdom of your intuition in your body and notice what starts coming through. So I was going to do that disclaimer. 

So this is a really powerful tool that one helps to really build in that awareness with your intuitive knowing. And it’s like a muscle again, so play around practice with it. You know, do I want to eat Chinese food tonight. Do I want to eat tacos tonight? Right? Whatever that is, and have fun with it off that is such a big we’re allowed to have so much fun with this, and then we can use that in our business decision-making and our parenting decision-making, going back and really trusting that intuitive, knowing that deep, deep wisdom that I feel very strongly we’re all connected to.

ANNE RAJOO

Thank you so much for joining me on today’s episode. We’ve explored some simple yet powerful ways to strengthen our inner guidance and tap into that intuitive ‘yes.’ If you’re ready to dive deeper, don’t forget to check out the full workshop recording with the Intuitive Yes exercise linked in the show notes.

Before we wrap up, I have a gift for you! If you’ve enjoyed this mindful approach to Peaceful Productivity, I’d love to share my free resource with you: Peaceful Productivity Prompts. This collection of 21 insightful prompts will help you:

• Focus deeply, make decisions with confidence and ease, simplify your day, incorporate joy, and stay grounded and present in the moment.

With these prompts, you’ll find simple tools to bring more mindfulness into your work. To get your free PDF, just click the link in the show notes or visit annerajoo.com. Enter your details, and I’ll send it straight to your inbox.

Next week, I will dive into the connection between our menstrual cycle and productivity, and my guest is Renae Fieck, who will share some really insightful tips and tricks that got me excited about learning a little bit deeper into my cycle. But even if you don’t have a cycle or an unregular cycle, there are still some really great nuggets that Renae shares about how we can lean into our strengths and our different ways of being energized during certain times of the day or the month or year and to make this our strength for our productivity. So come back next week, it’s going to be super interesting. 

Until then, stay peacefully productive and catch you next time!