The High Price of Ignoring Intuition

In our last office space, I had a private door to my office off the main hallway. I typically used that door for trips to the ladies’ room and left it unlocked since I was only gone for a few minutes.

One morning, as I entered the hallway, I encountered a man in a black suit with a brightly colored shirt and tie. As I passed him, this message entered my head:

“Go back and lock your door.”

But I dismissed the thought. I figured I was being paranoid simply because this fellow’s appearance was quite different from other business people who entered our building.

When I returned to my office, I got back to the task at hand.

About 15 minutes later, my phone rang. 

A woman who identified herself as Sandy, a teller with my bank, said that someone had just tried to use my ATM card to withdraw money from my account. I always kept my ATM card in my wallet, so I quickly grabbed my purse.

My wallet was gone!

I thought back to the man I passed in the hallway. I realized he had been waiting for me to leave my office.

My mind was racing and my emotions were ablaze as Sandy was telling me that there had been three unsuccessful attempts to use my ATM card. She said the bank could reset my PIN if I just told her my old one.

In my state of shock, I gave her the 4-digit code, never questioning the wisdom of sharing it.

After hanging up, I immediately cancelled my credit card.

Then I decided to call the bank to find out if they had a camera on their ATM drive-through.

To my horror, I learned there was no Sandy at the bank. The thieves had impersonated my bank so they could get my PIN number and withdraw money from my bank account.

Fortunately, the bank restored that money, and the credit card company credited back the few charges that the thieves had made.

But still, the experience haunted me for weeks.

If only I had not ignored the clear signal that my intuition had tried to send me about the stranger I’d encountered. Somehow, my body and mind knew before I did that this was a person not to be trusted.

I recalled this incident as I was reading Gavin de Becker’s book, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence. He describes the importance of trusting your intuition when it comes to assessing dangerous situations and people:

“Nature’s greatest accomplishment, the human brain, is never more efficient than when its host is at risk. Then, intuition is catapulted to another level entirely. Intuition is the journey from A to Z without stopping at any other letter along the way. It is knowing without knowing why.”

The next time your inner voice speaks to you, pay attention. There may be a warning or simply a message that you need to hear.

And even better, read this book. Your safety may depend on it one day.

Have you experienced a time when your intuition guided you to make an important decision..or when you ignored it and paid a price as I did?

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About Meredith

Meredith Bell is co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders . Her company publishes assessment and development tools that help people build strong relationships at work and at home. Meredith is the author of three books, and the host of the Grow Strong Leaders Podcast .

You can get details about Meredith’s books, products, and podcast at GrowStrongLeaders.com.