The 6 basic human needs and how you can use them to become a better leader

• Certainty

• Uncertainty

• Significance

• Connection

• Growth

• Contribution

I learned about these 6 basic human needs from Tony Robbins.

Everyone wants certainty in life. We want to know that we have a job tomorrow, a bed to sleep in tonight, food to eat when we get hungry and money to buy the necessities we need to live comfortably. Our certainty gets disrupted when we make changes in our lives and business. Most people will just keep doing what they know because even if it’s not getting them what they want in life, they have certainty in what to expect.

We also want and need uncertainty. We crave variety. Even if you love pizza, if that was the only thing you could eat for a month, you would give anything to have some variety in your diet by the end of the month. Entrepreneurs can love new things a little too much by always chasing the next thing. This need for variety and novelty can get us in trouble because we don’t do what we already know works because we find new things to try. Uncertainty is craved when we get bored or tired of our current environment or situation. It can also be addictive due to the “new” thing creating dopamine in our brains.

We all want to be important or feel important. We want to know that we are significant in our careers or with family and friends. Just like with all the basic human needs there are positive and negative ways that we seek significance. We may incredibly hard or long hours to feel like we are significant for our family or we may go out of our way to put someone, who we don’t care for, down. Some have even gone as far as taking credit for an idea or action that was done by someone else so they can feel significant at work. That would be a very negative way to seek for significance.

Connection is a basic human need that says “I want to be a part of something.” We need friends, colleagues, love, and to feel like we belong. It’s such a powerful human need that gang members will hurt or kill other people to be accepted into the gang. In high school you may have made fun of someone who wasn’t in your click just to be accepted. We will also do amazing things for those we love to create a deeper connection with them.

Tony says that certainty, uncertainty, significance and connection are the primal needs and growth and contribution are the spiritual needs. At any given time in life we tend to focus on 2 of the 6 basic human needs the most. For me, it was significance and certainty. For you, the reader of this, I want you to shift your focus from whatever you spend the most time with over to growth and contribution. These two needs can end any suffering in our lives and they are the two needs that create a feeling of fulfillment. I made the switch when I learned about these needs and I can tell you that these are the needs that are the most rewarding to you and others.

Sometimes I have one of the other 4 needs that get disrupted and when that happens I have to use my awareness to shift back to growth and contribution. It’s not easy sometimes. Life can throw us an obstacle, curve ball or challenge that really shakes us up. We can get lost in worry and fear during those times. The best and fastest way to escape this worry and fear is to shift over to growth and contribution.

Growth, to me, means to focus on learning and to focus on gratitude and what’s right in your life. We are wired to always find what’s missing so it’s unnatural to focus on what we do have. Taking 2 minutes out of your day to just focus on what you have and what’s right in life and you’ll find that your problems melt away during those 2 minutes. It gives your mind a break and if you add in some feelings of gratitude at the same time you may even feel something move through your body that feels good, replacing the dread-worry-fear-grief-sadness or whatever is going on in your life right now.

In order to focus on growth, we must protect what goes into our minds. That means not listening to or watching anything that’s negative. It means to shift our thoughts, our self talk and what we say out loud over to the positive. This is a hard habit to break if you are used to talking, thinking and feeding your mind with negativity. Negative news sells which is why that’s pretty much the only thing being reported on the news. I haven’t watched the news for over 20 years. I protect what goes into my mind because I have learned that if I let in garbage, I get garbage out in the form of my thoughts and beliefs and what I say out loud.

Let’s look at the other spiritual human need of contribution. Today is the day after Christmas. How did it make you feel to give a gift to another person? How do you feel when you share a piece of advice that helps someone out in their life? How do you feel when you give a kind smile to someone? How do you feel when you pay for someone’s lunch or dinner? How do you feel when you donate some of your time or money to a cause that you believe in? There’s nothing that can match the feeling we get as human beings to be useful, helpful or to contribute to someone else. The recipient gets a gift but you receive the ultimate gift by helping them. When we focus our attention on others we stop focusing on ourselves which is where all suffering comes from in the first place.

Whenever a basic human needs is disrupted, we can behave in ways that are out of our normal character. Our friends, family, colleagues or employees and even ourselves will do things that are not normal if our basic human needs are affected. Keep this in mind when someone you work with behaves out of character. Ask questions and offer to help them with whatever they are going through instead of assuming anything. You may just find that they are struggling with something that has nothing to do with the results they are producing at work or the way they are acting to other family members.

Consider exploring these needs and making the shift to focus on growth and contribution. I have no doubt you will immediately begin feeling more fulfilled in your life and in your business. Remember that everyone, including you, are always doing the best they can with their current skills, abilities, mindset and knowledge to meet some basic human need. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and I hope you are excited to step into the New Year! Go Make Money!