Inherently,

there are six major psychological needs of the human. This does not discriminate race, colour, tribe or tongue. Every human being from any location has these six psychological needs.

Now, the interesting thing is that work, especially the work that we love to deploy caters for a great percentage of these six psychological needs. I first heard about this idea from Tony Robbins. You can check out more about that here.

Let us explain them briefly.

1. Certainty:

This speaks for itself. Certainty is assurance. Assurance that you will be fine tomorrow just as you are today. Assurance that you will pay your bills and you will maintain the level of life that you are leading at the moment or you will improve on it.

It is not a bad thing to hope and want certainty. It is a human thing. Perhaps ladies have more of this need than men. In any relationship, a woman would be looking for security as a major priority as compared to a man.

Work and Certainty

Nevertheless, we are talking about work, not relationships. Work, especially the work that is productive as it is rewarding has a massive potential of providing some sorts of security to people all over the world.

Why is it that people look for jobs and not short-term gigs? It is because jobs provide certainty. Work provides direct certainty than alms, inheritance, luck, windfall or any other form of provision, even miracles! Work provides more certainty and security than miracles because it is not only sustainable but also is the original way man was designed to operate.

Certainty and Value

And you know what? That is exactly how the human race is supposed to function. We are to work and through it add value to life so that we can be compensated. Here is the catch: For as long as we are providing value, we can remain certain about our future prospects.

Today, the way of getting certainty in life through work has of course changed. We have to be more creative with our work so that we can keep adding value. For as long as we are valuable, our levels of certainty will always increase.

A job does not provide this kind or of good pressure, but I am going ahead of myself.

2. Uncertainty:

This is the inherent need for variety, change and spice in life. Again, work has a way of getting this covered. Why is it that we have replaced repetitive work such as rubber stamping, paper clipping, photocopying and all?

It is because inherently we need variety. We need something different, and something challenging. Work, not your job title has a way of providing for this. The work environment can also get this uncertainty covered.

Work Environments

Well, performing organizations have created environments where people at work can explore different things. Those organizations that are hell-bent on keeping some kind of “tradition” normally end up stifling talent and they end up making people leave them for guess what? For uncertainty.

Even if your work was sort of predictable, if you had an inborn culture of excellence, you will still cherish variety and you will have it covered at work. Coca-cola has never changed its ingredients but each month, perhaps each week, they are using uncertainty in their advertisements.

Incremental Improvement

If you wanted to excel in your work and increase the level of certainty in your life, it would be great if you chose to have as much uncertainty inculcated in your work as possible. This will be covered through improvements, different versions, innovations, the introduction of new things, inventions, collaborations and so on.

3. Significance:

In a previous article, we talked about how important work is in contribution to your identity. Significance is an inherent human need to feel unique and important, special or needed.

That is why the most dreaded question you can ever ask a “jobless” person is this: “So what do you do?” Feelings of insignificance always accompany people who do not have work. Why? It is because, through work, you are able to contribute to life. (which is another human need that we shall discuss).

I have found a trick though: It is not only paid work that will elicit feelings of significance, I found out that psychologically, any kind of work, any kind of engagement of the mind will create feelings of significance. Once again, work is part and parcel of our lives because it causes us to feel wanted, needed and significant.

4. Love and Connection

Well, well, well. Is this where we do not need work? Pun intended. This need is self-explanatory. It is the feeling of closeness, union or connection with someone or something!

Now, traditional love might not necessarily be obtained through work. Make no mistake about it though, the people who have work find it easier to connect and oil their union than those who do not have work.

Although work does not directly contribute to the attainment of this need, it does impact on it indirectly.

However, there are those people who have this human need fulfilled through their work. They feel so connected to their project that it just fulfils them. This explains some people’s attachment with their ultimate work.

I must add though that this kind of connection to work does not really serve the ultimate need for love and connection on its own.

5. Growth and Development:

There is no human being who is tired of expansion, development and increase in capacity in any way. Once again, work does cater directly for this need. It is through our work that we increase in our brains, our skills, our connections and our capacity to even do more work.

It is through work that new ideas are given to us. Have you ever realized that ideas do not come often to people who are doing nothing? It is those who are busy at work that are filled up with ideas to do something new, something better or something different.

6. Contribution:

We have talked about this. That work provides the highest sense of fulfilment even more than religion does. A sense of contribution is something that is offered directly through working.

First, the work itself might be a form of contribution or a form of giving back to society even though you are being paid. Think of the feeling that the people who invented mobile phones have. That is not just a feeling of wealth, it is a feeling of contribution.

We all have that feeling in our lives. If you wanted to gauge and see if you are engaged in your ultimate work, check and see if this aspect of your human need is being catered for. If not, then you need to keep looking to locate your purpose.

Work Covers 5 out of 6!

So as you can see, there are six human needs and nearly all of them (except one). Can you believe it? Work is a pretty crucial thing in our lives. You and I ought to find some work and put our hands on it. Don’t we?