Have you ever wondered why it’s sometimes hard to stay focused on a goal? A goal that you chose and that will benefit you? Despite what you may think it’s not due to a lack of focus or staying power but due to one of our 6 basic human needs. If a need isn’t being met through positive or beneficial ways it will be met through negative or detrimental ways, at times even through illegal ways. The second of our basic human needs is the need for variety.
With recent advances in technology we are presented with a multitude of choices; choices in how we spend our free time, choices in how and when we access information and even how and when we communicate with each other, choices in how we shop, how we holiday and travel etc. We also live in an increasing throw-away world where consumer goods are regularly replaced by updated, faster, more sophisticated versions. We expect to have access to what we want, when we want it; a constant source of external stimulus with which to fill our time. As a result our boredom threshold has never been lower and is equalled by our impatience and our intolerance of routine and consistency.
But as Tony Robbins has pointed out, our need for variety is at odds with our need for certainty. We need both. A balanced life where we consciously avoid the trap of staying in our comfort zones allows for positive variety; learning something new, visiting new places, meeting new people are all positive ways of introducing variety. Unless we deliberately create positive variety for ourselves we can begin to blame the lack of it on our jobs, studies and even relationships which we often end up sabotaging.
Life isn’t always fast-changing, it isn’t always exciting or entertaining and it does sometimes feel like an uphill grudge! But it’s positive variety that balances out the dull and the mundane – pay attention to your needs so all the plates stay on the canes!