How to Develop “Sherlock Homes” Intuition

Read body language . You can tell a lot about a person by their body language, so you can guess who means well and who doesn’t. You can know a person’s feelings and guess how they behave. Once you’ve mastered this art, people will think you’re a super detective like Sherlock Homes. ^[11]

Practice active listening. A lot of the time, you just listen to what the other person is talking about, nodding your head to show you’re engaged in the conversation. Active listening requires more focus on what the other person is saying, the way they say it, and the tone of voice they express. ^[12]

• Remove all distractions to really pay attention when the other person is talking to you. For example, put your phone away and stop what you’re doing to listen.
• Maintain eye contact with the person you are talking to.
• Focus on what the other person is saying instead of thinking about what you’re about to respond to.
• Paraphrase what the other person just said before speaking your mind.

Know when someone is lying . The ability to detect lies is also part of good intuition, so learning how to spot someone who is lying is essential if you want to improve your intuition. You will be able to distinguish what is true and what is a lie.

• People who are lying often cover their mouth and nose. They may also twist their hair or twist their clothes.
• While it can take a while, learning to spot offensive expressions on a person’s face can also help you figure out if the person is lying.
• Observe if they sweat abnormally. For example, if the person starts to sweat while sitting in a cool room with the air conditioner, they may be lying.
• Listen to their speaking speed. Speaking slowly or quickly can be signs of lying.

Predict the actions others will take. Use your skills to judge the behavior of others. For example, you can guess who will forget to bring the mysterious Santa’s gift on the right day, or who from your group will volunteer to give a presentation. By “reading” others, you can make better decisions for yourself by anticipating the behavior of others.

Accept your intuition. Before you can use intuition like Sherlock Homes, you need to see intuition as a valuable source of information. Some people think that intuition is just imagination, and logical thinking is the only correct method. However, through the mysteries of Sherlock Homes, you can see that using both sides of the mind produces optimal results. Intuition is based on practice and information gathering, so it’s not as illusory as people think; rather, it is the formulation of hypotheses based on knowledge, experience, and attention to detail.

• Well-trained intuition will help you make faster decisions without thinking through every detail, because your brain helps you build a network of connections that process information. Thanks to that, you will come to the right decision as a reflex. ^[13]

Keep your mind objective. If you want to rely on your intuition, you need to avoid subjective judgments. It’s easy to fall into the subjective trap of following your “hunch,” but training to think objectively will help you uncover secrets like Sherlock did. ^[14]

• Let the facts guide the way without relying on your own opinions. For example, if your lunch disappears, it’s easy to blame someone you know for making a mistake, but don’t jump to conclusions. The facts may lead to another person.
• Keep an open mind. Listen to the opinions and perspectives of others so you can learn from their point of view. Everyone has their own way of seeing the world, and sometimes you need a change in perspective to stay objective.

Get on well. Sometimes you need to play the role of an outsider, but if you want to have strong intuition, you need to be in tune with everything around you. Just as Sherlock Homes needs to analyze the circumstances of a crime scene to know what happened, you need to be part of the world around you in order to be able to make reasonable judgments about it. ^[15]

• Instead of separating from everyone, take an active role in your life to gather useful experiences for developing your intuition.
• Choose one activity each day, even if it’s just small ones. For example, you could go for a walk with a friend, play a game of badminton, sit on a park bench, sketch, or practice a new language.
• Limit TV viewing time.

Pay attention to the environment. Remember the images and sounds around you. Being aware of the world around you will help you make better decisions in an instant. Your reaction to a person will vary based on the setting.

• For example, if someone approaches you at the mall, you’ll probably nod at them and keep walking; however, if someone approaches you in a dark alley, you may be wary and try to keep your distance from them.
• While you don’t want to jump to conclusions, understanding your surroundings will help you read the situation better as you gather clues more easily.

Limit distractions. If you want to have strong intuition like Sherlock, you need to engage with the world around you. Distractions like your phone can prevent you from gathering the information you need for intuitive use.

• Spend two weeks jotting down times when you give in to distractions, such as watching TV over dinner, checking your phone at work, or flipping through the pages of a magazine while listening to friends talk.

Incredulous. This may seem counterintuitive, but healthy skepticism helps you avoid jumping to conclusions based on personal bias. To be a wise skeptic, you need to understand your beliefs and how they affect your response to the world in order to avoid making false judgments based on preconceptions. ^[16]

• When you find yourself reacting to someone or something, take a minute to ask yourself why you feel the way you do. For example, if you feel uncomfortable when you meet your friend’s new boyfriend, ask yourself if the feeling is due to him or to outside factors. Does he remind you of his ex? Or are you worried about losing your best friend?
• Don’t be so quick to believe gossip. Look at the evidence and use it to find truth in the rumors you hear.

Think outside the box . To be as intuitive as Sherlock Homes, you need to be a creative and flexible thinker. If you establish habits, resist change, and try to categorize the world, you will not be able to train your mind to grasp and process the reality of the world around you. ^[17]

• Try brainstorming activities like mind mapping, idea sketching, or making lists.
• To a different place. For example, take your notebook to a coffee shop you’ve never tried before or go for a walk outdoors in new places.
• Collaborate with others to generate hybrid ideas.
• Do something artistic.
• Change your daily routine to change your perspective.

Learn how to do each task sequentially. Multitasking is the enemy of intuition because it distracts you from the world around you. Your mind needs complete and accurate information to be able to come to the right conclusions. ^[18]

Understand inference. Sherlock Holmes solves cases by following the principle of inference, a method of reaching conclusions based on guiding hypotheses. He bases his hypotheses on connections through observational skills and personal knowledge. ^[19]

• Inference is based on the principle that everything belonging to a particular group has the same rules. For example, if everyone in the conference room has won an award, and Huy Thanh was present at that conference, then it can be inferred that Thanh is the awardee. ^[20]

Hypothesis building. The masters of deduction build hypotheses based on evidence and draw solid conclusions based on those hypotheses. ^[21]

• Find patterns in your life. Pay attention to the who, what, why, when, and how questions. For example, take note of the person who usually makes coffee in the office. You will probably discover that the only person who makes coffee before 8 am is the accountant Lan Anh.
• Evidence-based generalization. According to the above pattern, you can infer that the coffee available before 8 am in the office is made by Lan Anh.
• Based on this hypothesis, if there is no coffee after 8 am, that means Lan Anh has not come to the office.

Hypothesis test. Once you have formulated a hypothesis based on the generalization, check again to see if your hypothesis is correct. In the above example, the next time it’s past 8am and there’s no coffee, check to see if Lan Anh isn’t in the office.

Sharpen problem-solving skills . You need to improve your problem-solving skills so that you can use reasoning to make better decisions. To use deduction, you must be good at finding solutions to problems.

• Start by defining the problem and understanding the facts. Collect and analyze information. List possible solutions and consider the pros and cons of each.

Logical thinking. You need to learn to think logically if you want to develop intuition. For intuition to be accurate, you need to learn to react based on logic. ^[22] Look for a cause-and-effect relationship. ^[23]

• For example, if your friend drinks more coffee on Thursday, ask yourself what’s different that day. Maybe she stayed up late Wednesday night because she had to go to night classes. Gather more information to determine whether it is cause and effect or just an association, i.e. two events that are related but one is not the cause of the other. Be careful not to assume that the connection between the two things is true when inferring the opposite. Night class might get your friend to drink more coffee the next morning, but that doesn’t mean that every time she drinks a lot of coffee, she has night class. ^[24]

Expand knowledge. To have a strong intuition like Sherlock, you need to keep learning. Reading books, viewing documents, keeping up with the news and joining groups can help you increase your knowledge. You don’t have to go to a formal school to learn new things. ^[25]

• Don’t limit yourself to your field of study. For example, knowledge of popular culture may not seem like a big deal, but it can help you understand the people around you so you can better rely on intuition.
• You can try looking for EdX.org, which offers classes from major institutions like Harvard, Berkeley, Georgetown, MIT, and other prestigious universities. You can take a free class from the world’s best instructors, or you can pay a very small fee to get a certificate that you’ve taken the course. Either way, this is a good opportunity to expand your knowledge.
• Find sites like Meetup.com, which offer community-run groups. Some groups will help you connect with people who can teach you new skills. For example, you could learn how to create a website, cook Indian food, or combine essential oils.