4 Needs and Career Decisions
Recently I wrote about the importance of defining wants and needs when taking steps toward a new career adventure, whether you’re looking for a new job or starting your own business. In that article, I shared a simple exercise to help. (Read: Your Next Career Adventure: The Ideal Factors Exercise)
Meanwhile here are some additional insights about needs that we, as humans, all seem to have in common…
4 Main Needs We All Have In Common
After working with people in career transition for more than two decades, I’ve observed that most career dissatisfaction stems from one or more of the following needs not being met:
- Physical – We usually choose work to take care of our physical needs such as food and shelter. Sometimes I like to call this the Fiscal Need because it’s mostly about the money (and security), but it can be about physical environment or geographical location, too.
- Mental – We might prefer to choose work that mentally stimulates us. I sometimes call this the Intellectual Need. This need might include a desire or need for more education – the desire to learn and grow mentally. Many people prefer mind-challenging work over mind-numbing work.
- Social – We frequently choose work based on our need for social structure and want to satisfy our emotional needs through relationships at work. As primates, humans instinctively form attachments to others and seek out group interaction. Most of my clients put a high value on who they work for, who they work with as teammates, and who they would choose for ideal customers or strategic partners.
- Spiritual – We are happiest when we choose work that allows us to feel like we’re making a difference, so I usually call this the Making a Difference Need. We’re using our inborn talents to influence change or make a positive impact. Maybe it’s making a really big difference to the local community or even to the world. But it can also simply be making a difference by helping to achieve the goals of the organization and receiving the feedback that you are.
Needs Compass
I like to think of these needs as the 4 points on a compass. I’ve learned that the urgency of each need will vary from person to person, and the variance will usually depend on factors like current and pending life events, as well as personality. As a result, your orientation to each need will dictate the decisions you make and the direction you take.
Maybe your orientation is heavily pointed toward northwest or maybe it’s toward southeast. It could be that your need for intellectually stimulating daily activities might be stronger than your social need. In fact, I find this to be case for many introverts. Maybe your social need is so important to you that it can also be tied to your need to make a difference, and you realize both needs by being in service to others.
Something Else To Consider
There’s a question worth considering in all of this… Is it okay when not all of these needs are being met by your career?
I find myself talking frequently with clients about this because they, like so many of us, have been told that the work we’re doing must make us happy (and, consequently, fulfill all 4 needs). Otherwise, something is wrong. The truth is that we each have more than a career to consider – we each have a whole life in which it is possible to fulfill these needs. If you want to make a difference but don’t feel like your job allows you to do it in the way you’d like, maybe you could consider another way to make a difference. For example, you could find satisfaction through community service that you perform outside of your career or because you’re putting so much of yourself into raising your children.
So, if you’re feeling like any of these needs are not being met by your career, I encourage you to pull back and look at your whole life. There might just be a simple thing you can do outside of your career to satisfy what you need.
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Angela Loeb is into self-development & personal empowerment, being awed by nature, writing, and being inspired by superhero stories. She’s also been a career expert for more than two decades. Learn about her services and programs at https://InSyncResources.com
