The first Monday after New Year's Day always has a busy feel to it. Look around you. Everyone's back at work, back to their routines and back to the distractions of day-to-day life. All of that is definitely not conducive to intuition, which flourishes in silence, stillness and tranquility.

If intuition is going to play a conscious part of your life in 2011 (and by conscious, I mean you're going to engage your intuition rather than merely waiting for it to make an appearance every now and then) you've got to build silence, stillness and tranquility into your routine. You can do that by simply taking five to ten minutes a day to turn off all noisy distractions and listen to your thoughts. One of my favorite ways to invite stillness into my life is to do so each morning over coffee before the obligations of the day start to call me. Not surprisingly, I've come up with some of my most creative ideas and resolved many a problem while satisfying my daily caffeine fix.

But what you can't do is wing it. You have to plan your silences just as you'd plan the time you're going to spend in the gym. If you don't, your desire to live a more self-motivated, intuitive life will be just another unfulfilled goal this time next year.

Intuitive Action Item: Make time for silence. Pick a part of your day that will remain free from noise and distractions, even if you combine it with another private activity such as using the bathroom or showering. It can be five minutes or twenty, though the more you do it, the more creative you'll get at stealing silent moments throughout the day. During this time, the only thing you have to do is pay attention to what you're thinking about. What you hear may very well surprise you.