Identifying The 6 Core Human Needs

Have you ever heard of the 6 core needs for humans?

Well, this concept is one of Tony Robbins, and it encompasses 6 core values that we all have.

These core needs include: certainty, variety, significance, connection and love, growth, and contribution.

And I wanna talk about how we’re either fulfilling them or not, because they truly are necessary for both survival and living a successful life. We all have the same 6 needs, the trick is figuring out how we value those needs and in which order as it will determine the direction of our lives.

Tony Robbins’ 6 Core Needs: Why Fulfilling Them is Crucial for Our Well-being

Core Human Need 1 – Certainty

So first up is certainty. That, I mean, it is what it sounds like, Right? We like to know what’s coming down the pipeline. It gives us a sense of comfort. It’s a survival mechanism and determines how much risk we’re willing to take in our actual lives. 

And the person who seeks the most comfort and certainty in life will typically be the one who is the most risk averse. I mean, you know me. I always have to circle this back to health and fitness because that’s what is at the core of my needs and what they’re rooted from. 

So when I talk to people in the DMs and they’re interested in possibly joining, like, one of my boot camps or something like that, I can tell right away where they stand on the core needs scale when it comes to certainty, just based upon their initial reaction to, quite frankly, the price us of my online fitness and nutrition platform.

And, obviously, we all want certainty to a certain extent that, for example, that the programs work. Right? We want results even though sometimes we have this culture that’s trying to pull us away from before and afters and trying to get us more inclusive, yada yada yada. 

But at the end of the day, people want to workout and they’re putting aside 30 minutes a day, whatever it may be, because they want to look and feel better. They don’t wanna waste their time. So with that being said, those who rank certainty higher on the scale are the ones that need to be told that there’s a 100% money back guarantee. 

They aren’t as willing to take a chance. Right, they are the risk averse people. Now, the 2nd need, the core value that we have as humans is variety, which would also be you know, you could look at that as uncertainty.

Core Human Need 2 – Variety

Right? It’s a hodgepodge of things. And I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t like surprises. I personally prefer the certainty zone. You’ll have people who claim that they love to live in the moment and love surprises, but let’s be real, they like it on their own terms. 

No one likes ugly surprises. It’s like an unexpected bill that pops up or an illness. I mean, who wants that? Right? But those times of adversity are actually what end up making us stronger. So when it comes to fitness and nutrition, can you imagine eating the same meal every day or doing the same workout? No.

That’s boring. I mean, variety is so important. It’s what keeps us motivated, and it keeps us interested. It makes us want to push play. It wants us, like, get past the first 5 minutes, which, in my opinion, are always the hardest. 

No one wants to be stuck in a life like Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day, which, by the way, can’t stand that movie. I know some people love it, not a fave. And these first two core values, it’s wild, right, because you can already see, and feel that they’re in direct conflict with one another.

But hear me out. So say your life is a little chaotic right now. You’re going to gravitate towards finding certainty in your life. For me, personally, that is my workout every day. I know I have control over it and I also know that I’ll feel it with certainty because I’ve proven that to myself time after time over the last 10 years that I’m gonna feel great about it afterwards. 

I’m not gonna regret doing my workout. That’s my comfort zone. Now where variety comes into play is I don’t like doing the same program over and over and over again.

You know, when I first started almost literally almost 10 years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade, but when I started with Body, the artist formerly known as Beachbody, we just had DVDs, and we would only release, at most, 2 programs a year. 

So literally, especially the 21 Day Fix, which was my go to program and what really catapulted my results. It was 7 workouts. I did them over and over and over again. And I was so pumped when they came out with the 21 Day Fix Extreme because I was like, alright. Enough already. Right? Like, I could literally recite the workouts, what she was gonna say, the cues, the jokes, yada yada yada.

So we do thrive off of having variety. And now because our platform has expanded. There’s literally thousands of different workouts now. I know myself, and I know that while I, you know, seek comfort in certain trainers, I do like the variety piece and that core value. 

So I make sure that I don’t do the same program more than 2 times in a row before switching it up because we need that variety. 

Core Human Need 3 – Significance

Now the next core value would be significance. Who doesn’t wanna feel like they matter. Right? We all seek to feel important, special, unique, needed.

This could be something deep, like making an impact on someone’s life through charity work. It could be someone’s wealth status. It could be materialism, what kind of car you drive, are you rocking the right handbag, how big is your house? 

Perhaps you’re unique and that you go against the grain. When everyone’s wearing black, you wear white. You know, that’s what makes someone feel different or significant we’re unique. Right? 

And I know plenty of people who have the you know, I realized this when I worked in the golf industry that I knew people had the same amount of wealth, but one chose to drive a Lamborghini SUV while the other would ride around in an old station wagon. 

Like, the old station wagon was one person’s badge of honor and what made them different, so to speak, and the Lambo is what made the other person feel different and unique. Right? And the irony is they both ended up like they both fly private.

Right? So It’s just whatever they were gravitating towards that made them, like I said, different, the black sheep, so to speak. So some people do want to stand out more than others. So significance can rank higher on the list of core needs for some people than others. 

Core Human Need 4 – Love and Connection

Think about how amazing love is when you find it and how painful it is when you lose it. I truly believe we see the power of love once we become a parent. That little baby enters the world and literally doesn’t have to do a single thing. They obviously can’t speak.

In fact, they’re most likely crying, but we suddenly love it. Just just like that. We want to protect it. We wanna nurture it, take care of it, feed it, comfort all the things, whereas the love that we have for our spouse has to grow over time. Same thing, you know, best friends. That’s years. Right? 

And those are built upon connections and several intimate moments over time. And, yes, connection can and also happen through nature or prayer, it doesn’t just necessarily have to be some sort of bond with a person.

You know, think about how peaceful you feel when you’re by the ocean and you’re talking to your creator, love is built from connection and it’s definitely a lot scarier than connecting. 

Connection is definitely something that’s more of an arm’s length away. And a lot of the time, we’re so afraid of love that we settle for connection. You know, think about the person who is constantly jumping from relationship to relationship or as soon as they get, quote unquote close to that person where it could be turning into love, they build up walls and they prevent themselves from diving full on into love. 

Chances are if you’re that type of person, you rank certainty higher on your list. Why? Because love requires variety and taking risks. Right? So just like the first two core values, yes, love and connection and significance are paradoxes as well. So if someone takes too much time, finding significance in their lives.

So for example, going back to wealth. Right? They’re so focused on building their own personal wealth, they’re gonna struggle with developing connections, ergo love in their relationships, which can lead to divorce, loss of friendships, etcetera. 

So you see where I’m going with this? Like, we have these 6 core values, But, yet, they’re counterintuitive, but we still need them. 

Now Tony says that the first 4 that I just talked about, most people have in their tool belt, but it’s the final 2 that are more rare for people to tap into. They definitely require diving more into your spirit. 

They’re not just innately in you like those other 4 I mentioned. Those are basic human needs. Like I said, survival. Right? Number 5 is growth.

Core Human Need 5 – Growth

And you’ve heard it before, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. And think about how the brain works, you can actually still develop gray matter into your mid to late fifties, which is wild. Right? 

And so it’s very important to make learning a priority, something as simple as doing the crossword puzzle every day. But the more you stay stagnant, both physically and mentally as you age, the more you increase your chances of dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

So growth is a major separator. Physically obviously, I just stated that, right, how it can impact your health, but also emotionally for people. Like, I believe that growth is a separator.

And for the last 10 years that I’ve been in the health and wellness space, I’ve seen how growth is a major separator.

I’d be lying to you if I said I haven’t seen couples or friends, some of my own, to be honest, go their separate ways after 1 person decides to take control of their health physically, spiritually, whatever, they’re developing better habits. 

They’re working on their inner self while the other person doesn’t. And then what happens is the delta between the 2 partners or friends, whatever it may be, grows larger and larger when one starts exponentially growing while the other stays the same. People literally grow apart. 

You know, think about sometimes when people end a relationship, they break up, and they will say, well, we grew apart. And there’s a lot of truth to that. But growth can also be the glue for relationships. I know that for me and Nick, the fact that we both work on our health daily, physically, mentally, and spiritually has strengthened our marriage.\

Take care of yourself and inspire others

I’ve had my own friendships saved because they’ve made the decision to either join my team and community and work on their health with me. I’ve had friends that have either, you know, reached out their hand to me or vice versa.

I’ve done it to other friends where we’ve led more into our faith and that has grown us as people together. So I don’t want it to be this whole negative thing. 

Growth can be positive. 

You just have to make sure that it is bleeding into the people around you and you’re encouraging them to do the same. 

You know, we grow so that we can have something to give to others, which leads me to the final core need, which is contribution, which is giving, tithing, living life about we rather than me. 

Core Human Need 6 – Contribution

Now, of course, being able to contribute financially is important and obviously, it’s a pretty obvious way of how we contribute to others.

But think about how you take care of yourself when you show up for yourself with your health goals, especially when you’re talking about on social media, like many of us do, guilty, as charged, as you know, right? 

If you know, you know, you follow me, right, and you see me post about it every single day, it’s my passion. You’re making a contribution to others because you never know who might be watching and who you’re inspiring to make a change. 

And I talked about this on my stories a few weeks ago, but I was at this, I don’t know, really low point in feeling sorry for myself because of outside circumstances. And I was questioning whether or not to continue to record my podcast. I know wild if you’re listening to that, you’re like, what? 

And I admit, like, this was definitely me kinda having a moment and letting the enemy kinda control my thoughts. You know, I start to question whether if it was quote unquote worth it, right, whether it’s, you know, the time that it takes to record and edit, the money I have to invest in my team to edit podcast and upload them to the different platforms, my marketing team who creates the post on my website, all the all the things. Right?

And then just like God always does, he swooped in to give me affirmation. And so I had all these feelings.

Right? I’m, like, feeling so sorry for myself in the shower. And then I get out, I get changed, and I grab my phone because I saw that I had received a message in my DMs. 

And it was from a friend that I’ve made online over the last few years. We’ve never met in person, but we talk quite frequently. And she was thanking me for my podcast. And she noted 2 specific episodes that changed the course trajectory of her health. And she just kept encouraging me to do what I was doing and thanked me. And I cried, obviously, because, hello, God moment.

But, also, the enemy makes us think sometimes that just because the arena is silent, he’s trying to convince us that no one’s watching, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. You know, think about it, do you talk in the movie theater? No. 

That doesn’t mean that what you’re watching isn’t inspiring you or bringing up feelings in your heart. And the same goes for life and on social media and just in the workplace and your just your daily routine, people are watching you. 

They’re watching you. They’re learning from you, and you never know who you’re inspiring. And what we contribute to others matters. All of our decisions are determined by these needs that I just talked about.

 The Power of Attitude:
“But the attitude piece is what plays the contributing factor because you can also know with certainty that the dopamine hit from both of these choices will leave your stomach hurting or you with a headache… the attitude that you’re going into it with matters.” ~ Maren

And what attitude we have with them, positive or negative, also plays a factor. So my question to you is, which 2 of these 6 is the most important to you? Because that’s where you’re making most of your choices from. 

For example, if certainty is one of them, you’re probably the person that waited to see my postpartum results months after I started. Heck. Maybe even after I got results, you wanted to see if I maintained them. I don’t know. 

Because you wanted to know for certain that the programming that I talk about daily works. You wanted certainty before you committed.

But if variety is your jam, then you’re looking at it from a totally different perspective. You wanna be challenged and you look forward to seeing my stories every day on Instagram to the different moves from the workout that I’m posting. 

You wanna know that you’re not gonna get bored. And then when it comes to the attitude, we have to always do a gut check. Is it positive or negative? Because a positive person may need certainty, but once they see it, they believe it and they commit. 

Whereas a negative attitude makes excuses. Oh, well, of course, you know, it worked. She’s fit.

She’s been doing it for 10 years. She’s an athlete, and they still won’t commit. So your core values and attitude determine your habits. So, for example, let’s let’s use food. Say you lean towards certainty and connection. 

Those are the 2 that rank the highest for you out of 6. Depending on what your attitude is, you could be using food remember? Because I said attitude also plays a factor, but you could be using food as a coping mechanism. 

You know with certainty that you love the way ice cream feels, or you always get a bottle of wine when you’re out to dinner with girlfriends.

Friends, so connection. Right? But the attitude piece is what plays the contributing factor because you can also know with certainty that the dopamine hit from both of these choices will leave your stomach hurting or you with a headache. Right? 

Also, if your attitude could be that, okay, maybe those are still your values, but you’re gonna pack it in a different way and that you are going to order that meal that you know is great and you normally wouldn’t cook for yourself at home. 

For me, it’s usually fish because I don’t really like cooking that too much at home. And so it’s gonna be a positive thing for you. And you’re also out connecting with friends and maybe you opt for a mocktail instead of a cocktail. Right? 

You’re still out connecting and doing what you do, but the attitude that you’re going into it with matters. So core values matter as does your attitude because they both lead to your habits.

Not only that, but they’re a road map for yourself and your fulfillment. It can help you with your leadership style, your relationships with your family and your friends, even a stranger you haven’t met yet, because you’re gonna learn these core values and it’s gonna help you meet their needs as well. 

You know, people talk about the 5 love languages all the time, which are totally different from what we’re talking about today. So those 5 love languages are time, gifts, words of affirmation, physical touch, or acts of service. 

And a lot of people know what theirs is, but the reason why they struggle in their relationships, in their marriage, whatever, friendships is because they haven’t identified what their partner’s is. 

So just because your love language is one thing, doesn’t mean that it’s gonna be the same for them. You need to lean into their needs, not yours. And the same goes for these core values.

And you know I’ll preach on this until I’m blue in the face, but I swear by what I do as a BODi partner. Think about it. What is an easy way to create good habits through your core values? 

Sharing your online health and fitness journey. Not only do you get to inspire others to get up and move their bodies, but, yes, you can even create a financial opportunity from it, which in turn will allow you to financially contribute to others through tithing. It’s literally a full circle moment. 

Contribution leads to significant certainty and more. And we know that each and every day, we are looking to fulfill these needs, and it can end up being constructive or destructive. When you become more aware of why, you’ll find better ways to create harmony within your life.

With that being said, I think that if we lean more into the contribution core value with a positive of course, we will live a more fulfilling life. The benefit of this is I truly believe that we’ll end up reaping what we sow. 

So when we focus on contribution, it will bleed into the other core values of our life. And I’d love to hear what you think about this, what you learned and which two core values you’re gonna make the focus to live a more fulfilling life. 

Questions to ask yourself about these 6 core values of human needs

• In what ways do you seek significance in your life? Is it through material possessions, wealth, or other means?
• How do you find variety in your fitness and nutrition routines? Do you think it is important to have different workouts and meals?
• How do you think awareness of the 6 core needs can help individuals make more informed choices in their lives?

Make sure you send me a message on Instagram. I’m always in my DMs. My handle is @macrowley and we’ll chat. Thanks for listening to the if you know, you know podcast.