According to Anthony Robbins, human beings have six basic human needs:
Certainty – to be comfortable and avoid pain
Variety – to have stimulus, change and surprise in your life
Significance – to feel special and worthy of attention
Connection & Love – to feel connected and loving, of yourself and others
Growth – to feel fully alive and continually growing
Contribution – to contribute beyond yourself, creating meaning and serving the greater good
We all have these same needs, we just get them met in different ways, both positive and negative.
For example:
You can meet your need for certainty by deciding to believe in yourself OR deciding to never leave your house again. Yes, both those decisions meet the need.
This happens all the time and explains why we so often begin things only to sabotage and lead ourselves to failure. I think that’s also when your lizard brain makes itself known!
Anything you find difficult but love to do, you can bet it’s because some of these needs are being met.
And when you have a sense that taking an action will meet many of your needs, you’re more likely to follow through.
On the flip side, if there’s something you put off, ignore or avoid doing, it’s because how you currently think of it causes a feeling of lack, that it won’t fulfill any of your needs.
Here’s the interesting thing about these needs –
Anything you do can meet ALL of these needs if you change your perception (what you notice and/or believe) or your strategy (how you get it done). More on that in a future post.
It all starts with awareness.
You’ve got to become aware of not just what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it. This awareness can then lead to a new strategy to fulfill on what you want in life.
What if for one week you simply noticed how your needs show up?
Nothing to do, nothing to fix.
Just notice.
Over to you:
- Which of the six needs do you focus on most?
- What do you do to meet that need?
- What do you make it mean that you focus on that need?
- And what if it didn’t mean that at all?
