There are six human needs we all have to have in life.
I’ve done posts about them in the past, but today I want to focus on the first two..
Certainty
Variety
They are opposites, but compliment each other.
There are certain aspects of our life we want to be certain about.
Food on the table, roof over our head, money in the bank, etc…
But even on a smaller level, certain experiences you need certainty in.
For example, there is a certain expectation you have when you walk into Spurling every single time…
You want a warm greeting, great coaching, a welcoming community, etc.
You need to be certain that happens every single time.
There’s a certain expectation of food quality at your favorite restaurant.
If you walked into Starbucks and ordered your favorite drink you get every week and all of the sudden it had all different ingredients thrown in for variety, that would definitely throw off your need of certainty.
On the flip side, you need some variety.
If it never changes, if it’s never different, you get bored.
It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about…
If your work day is the same thing every single day, you’d get bored….
If your fitness routine was the same every single day, you’d get bored…
If you ate the same food every single day, you’d get bored…
You need variety for the spice of life, and we know that when we get bored with something (fitness or otherwise) the success rate of completing it goes way down.
I like to think of all of this like a three-course meal.
You have your main dish, your entree.
That’s your certainty.
In fitness, that may be your 3x per week of full body strength training workout at Spurling.
It’s your foundation, and if you only eat the main dish, you get all the “needs” met.
Just like at home, you very rarely make yourself an appetizer on a typical night, you just eat your main dish.
Then for variety, you have your appetizer and your dessert.
You can’t just do these things as they they don’t cover all your needs, but they cover the variety or the “spice” of life.
In fitness, that could be things like supplementing your three workouts in the gym with outdoor workouts or yoga.
You can’t just do those things as you’re missing a big chunk of the needs, but it certainly may fulfill the need for variety.
That’s part of the reason why at Spurling we offer what we internally call “specialty programs.”
These are short term programs/workshops offered by our coaching staff outside of their salaried role or by outside experts in other areas like educational workshops, nutrition, yoga, recovery, etc.
You see this right now with Kim’s workshops that she’s doing, Trent’s nutrition program, and Judy’s restoration program.
It gives them a platform to grow, but it also fulfills the human need for variety for both them and the participants.
So I know we’re mainly focused on fitness, but you can apply these two human needs to any aspect of life.
Your job is your main dish, but maybe a special project or new responsibility might be the appetizer or dessert.
Your week to week at home is your main dish, that needs certainty, but maybe a couple times a year you go on vacation or away for a long weekend, or even a date night.
That’s your appetizer or dessert.
You can’t do that everyday, but here and there is awesome.
Keep the main dish, but if you’re craving it, add in the appetizer and dessert every once in awhile.
Certainty and variety.
Which one do you need more of right now?
1% Better.
Dedicated to Your Success,
Doug Spurling