Trust Your Gut: The Artist’s Guide to Intuitive Decision-Making
You can have the best marketing plan, the perfect Instagram strategy, and a polished product—but if you ignore your gut, you’ll stall.
That’s not just woo advice. It’s a creative survival skill.
Most of the major moves in my life have been in direct response to my intuition and required radical leaps of faith. Almost nothing I've ever done of significance or merit came without a blind leap off the cliff.
You can collect all the information, binge every podcast, and follow all the gurus, but your best moves will come from listening to your inner voice.
One of the biggest problems I face is wanting to do EVERYTHING. I want to start a podcast, learn stained glass, take a marketing class, learn how to grow my email list, apply for exhibition space, and make 10 paintings. ALL AT ONCE.
I don't think I'm alone in this. Artists are wild, creative creatures, and one of our best qualities is going where the wind takes us. That's intuition. But sometimes, every tiny breeze makes us change course, and then we dig a bunch of shallow wells.
If we want to move past an art hobby into full development of our artistic voice, as well as build a sustainable art business, we need to be digging DEEP wells.
But the question is, where to dig? In this article I have a few methods that I personally use to narrow my field of focus that you may be able to fold into your practice.
The Most Underrated Business Asset: Your Inner Compass
You need to be connected to your inner guide to know the best way to proceed. I know from experience that I can get disconnected from myself, and it takes some doing to get back. I can be here to give you direction and share my hard-won wisdom—but you have to choose which steps to focus on. You’ll have many choices. You are the only one who can listen to your heart—no one else can do it for you.
Example: You might need to decide which social media platform is the best one to focus on, and you know you can’t do more than one. Experts will have a recommendation for you, and you can listen to them… but before you make a decision, listen to your heart. Your heart will give you a truer path than anyone else ever can. An art biz coach like me can help you develop vision, strategy, and tactics—but you’ll be faced with endless choices in the day-to-day, and you’re the only one who can chart your exact course of action.
Maybe you're debating whether to apply to a local group show or double down on building your own online audience. There’s value in both, but only your gut knows which will give you energy right now.
Or maybe you're deciding whether to invest in a course, a coach, or just spend the next few months experimenting in your studio. There's no wrong answer—but one will feel more right than the others. Listen for that signal.
Before we begin, I want to mention something really important. Certainty is rarely an emotion you'll feel. In fact, in my experience, I've found that I'm never ready and the time never feels right. I cannot prove that my plan will succeed, and usually my initial intuitive inklings get course corrections along the way.
Here's a personal example. Before I started Art Revenue Coaching, my membership program for artists, the idea had been nagging me for at least a year. I already had a full time, successful art business. But I kept feeling like there was something more I could offer, and I knew from talking to hundreds of creatives over the years that people need concrete creative business help.
But, frankly, I was scared. Would I have time to invest into it? Would people want to join me? Would I be able to actually help artists? How should I structure it? It was a big leap and I didn't know if it would work.
But the idea wouldn't leave me alone. It pestered me day and night. Finally I said, YES. I opened the doors to ARC in 2022. Happily, we've since had thousands of artists come through the program, and I'm so grateful to have this opportunity.
3 Ways to Strengthen Intuition in Your Art Practice
Get Quiet and Ask
One method is to get quiet. Quiet your mind and heart, and wait for what comes in. Sometimes I present a single problem or question to the divine. Then I shut up. And wait. And keep a pen handy to jot down my impressions. You might get a picture (visual artists often do), an emotional jolt that gives you direction, or a soft whisper.
Truth be told, I'm more than a little woo. For myself, when I do this process I believe am interacting with the divine, but some might say they are connecting with their higher selves. Whatever your beliefs are, know that the potential for incredibly powerful insight just by listening is truly extraordinary.
Some people use a holy text for this practice. Others use a guided meditation or prayer beads. Some people read poetry, and some people walk in nature.
How we hear is different for everyone. I just like to let the information come in without doing too much interpretation in the beginning. Sometimes the data is jumbled, but I find that over time, when I’m keeping notes, themes emerge and messages—like complex riddles—unfold themselves.
Morning Pages
One powerful technique is Morning Pages. This was made famous by Julia Cameron, who wrote The Artist's Way—a must-read for all creatives! The basic concept is this: commit to writing for a certain length of time or number of pages every morning. Do not edit yourself, just write whatever comes to mind. You could write about being hungry or tired, or mad at your boyfriend. Just write whatever comes to mind.
Over time, this will do a couple of things. First, it will train your brain and emotions that you don't have to judge and edit yourself all the time and it’s okay to just come out with dreams, complaints, desires, and ramblings. Julia Cameron calls this self-judgment the "Censor." We can tell our Censor to back off from time to time.
Another thing that will happen is that when you read back over your writing after 30 days or so, you will likely see themes emerge that can help illuminate your forward path. So many people credit Morning Pages with a huge sense of clarity that has given them amazing forward momentum. Elizabeth Gilbert credits Morning Pages for helping her realize she wanted to learn Italian, because this wish kept coming back in her daily ramblings. Her realization resulted in her moving to Italy and writing—yep—the runaway bestseller Eat Pray Love.
The MacGyver Method
This is like Morning Pages, but more directed. It was first described by the guy who wrote the early MacGyver TV show. The idea is you write, by hand in a notebook, your problem. Be as detailed and specific as possible. For instance you might write:
“I need to focus on social media to grow an audience that will like my work, but I don’t know what platform to start with. I’m overwhelmed with the time and tech I might need to learn it and I’m afraid people won’t like what I post. I don't know what to post or how often.”
When I write my questions to myself, they're much longer than this short example. I put in my hopes and dreams, my doubts, my current ideas, EVERYTHING.
Yes, you COULD ask Google those questions and get 20 million responses. Or you could close the notebook and do something else for a while—ideally a few hours. Maybe get into flow making art or go for a walk. Better yet, wait overnight. Your subconscious will cook on the problem.
When you return to the notebook, write out the solution. Simple as that. It’s kind of like asking your future self for advice, knowing your future self is going to have some really good wisdom for you. The concept is that our deep, unconscious self will generate brilliant solutions if we give it space to surface.
Summary: Let Your Intuition Lead Your Art Career
In summary, between you and your guides and your gorgeous soul, you can find a path that will be life-giving, forward-moving, full of creativity and hope. You are the very best source of wisdom for YOU.
Here’s a quick recap of how to work with your intuition:
🔍 Get quiet and ask the question. Let the answer rise instead of chasing it.
✍️ Try Morning Pages to notice patterns, desires, and direction over time.
🧠 Use the MacGyver Method to let your subconscious offer solutions.
🎯 Listen to your gut when choosing what to pursue next—it’s smarter than fear.
Your intuition is a skill. Your creative practice is the training ground. Let both evolve, and let them lead you.
