The Six Human Needs… Yes, Needs!

K.I.S.S.- Keep It Simple, Silly.

 

During the shelter-in-place, Lola, our sister hair salon, continued to have team meetings via Zoom. This gave us an opportunity to really dive deep on how we can make more of an impact in our community.  One of the qualities that each Lola employee has is a servant’s heart. And I find this so incredibly important. When it comes to serving others, I made it a point to only have people on my team who genuinely love the idea of feet washing in the spiritual sense (read more about this in my previous post here). During one of the meetings, we talked about Tony Robbins’ Six Human Needs.  If you are unfamiliar, these are emotional needs for true fulfillment. They are Certainty, Uncertainty, Significance, Connection, Growth, and Contribution.  According to Robbins, fulfilling these six needs are essential to living a truly happy and prosperous life.

 

 

Let me go through a quick break down of what these mean:

 

Certainty: Knowing that you will have pleasure and avoid pain.

Uncertainty aka Variety: The need for change and stimuli.

Significance:  Feeing unique, important, and/or special.

Connection/Love:  A strong feeing of closeness or union with someone.

Growth: Expansion of capabilities or understanding.

Contribution: Service and focusing on supporting others.

 

 

At one of our meetings, I had the Lola team really think about their position at the salon and how they can incorporate these 6 needs into serving our guests and our community. We have three positions at Lola: concierge, stylist, and stylist support.  Each position has very specific roles within the salon and interacts with each guest in a very specific way. It is important that each staff member is meeting the six needs of each guest during each visit. This allows our guests to leave the salon feeling that their *cup spillith over* so that they can continue to fill the cups of others.

 

The more and more I really dive into this, the more I recognize its validity. When I think about what I sincerely want my life to look like, it contains all six of these- and really only these. I want to know what to expect from my day, but also have pleasant surprises throughout it. I want to feel like I have a specific offering and that I am leaving a mark on the world. I want to feel truly connected… to be truly seen by the people in my life.  I want to know that everyday I am better than I was yesterday.  I want to wash the feet of others… to truly support them. If I have these things I can die happy. Although there are some essentials I need, such as food and shelter, I like to keep them simple.  I need food that will nourish my body and a small shelter that I feel safe in.  Everything else is truly a bonus. They are luxuries. Like transportation. Do I NEED that for survival? No, but it certainly makes my life easier. Clothing, do I NEED that for survival? Not necessarily (I mean, Naked and Afraid proves that), but it makes things a lot less awkward.  Everything above those six needs, food, and shelter are all extras.  

I wanted to put this out into the world because I want to make sure that you are not denying yourself of these needs. There are a lot of societal pressures out there that like to make us think that we can go at it alone. That we need nothing from anybody. Not true! We need others. As vulnerable as it may be to admit this, it’s true. We need each other. Specifically the ones in our tribe, our circle, our family.  I need to know that I have people I can count on and that my people can count on me. Notice I said NEED rather than want!!!

 

Having definitive words makes it so much easier to understand and implement these things. Remember that serving others is not weakness- it is symbolic of love. To willingly serve others is symbolic of confidence, strength, and compassion! How are you incorporating the six needs into your life and the lives of others everyday? Tell us in the comments!