Intuition & Inner Knowing: sensing or intuition

In the world of the Myers-Briggs, Sensing and Intuition are about how you prefer take in information.

Do you know which you’re wired for?

If your preference is Sensing, you tend to take in information through your five senses and focus on the here and now.

If your preference is Intuition, you tend to take in information from patterns and the big picture and focus on future possibilities.

  • Just the facts, please versus the relationships and connections between facts
  • Accuracy and precision versus insights and interpretation
  • Real and tangible versus theories and future possibilities

So which is your preference?

Do you tend to take in information by seeing the trees rather than the forest (Sensing)? Or the forest rather than the trees (Intuition)?

Do you trust past experience and your five senses (Sensing)? Or do you trust your hunches and inspiration (Intuition)?

Know this: Whatever your type, you can flex and function on the other side, but it’s not your natural home base.

Imagine two colleagues on a team or partners in a relationship. One prefers Sensing, the other Intuition.

  • One prefers focusing on the present while the other prefers anticipating the future
  • One prefers using experience as a guide, while the other prefers being guided by imagination and inspiration
  • One seeks facts and details while the other wants to know implications and relationships, not just facts
  • One builds to conclusions by collecting facts while the other starts with the big picture and then fills in the facts

Can you see challenges working together or being in a relationship with someone who has the opposite preference for taking in information?

At the same time, does having both preferences in the room make for a stronger team or partnership?

Sensing-Intuition is one of four dichotomies revealed by the Myers-Briggs personality assessment. Which do you prefer?

Check out these posts to read about the other Myers-Briggs preference pairs: