4. Positive strategies to fulfil your own needs

With a Needs-Check you take a closer look at the situation and the unmet need behind: In which areas of your work is this need is met? What strategies do you choose to improve the situation where your need is threatened? Which of these is or are the best?

Needs-Check

First, consider which of the five basic needs (security and survival, power, love and belonging, freedom or fun) is unfulfilled or threatened to such an extent that it affects your state of mind. Be empathetic with yourself and try to be as understanding as possible of your situation, as described in the previous chapter. The Needs-Check consists of four steps:

1. Description of the situation in which the need is threatened and what this triggers in you.
2. Appreciation of the areas where your threatened need is met.
3. Description and analysis of the strategies you (want to) use so that your need is met.
4. Exploring further opportunities

You can also use this Needs-Check in to get an overview of which needs are quite well met in the different areas of your working life and in which areas you are not so comfortable. Choose one basic need and ask yourself the questions given in the four steps. Reflect on the strategies you are using to fulfil the chosen need and discover further possibilities. Go through one need after another using this scheme. Of course, you can apply the Needs-Check to other areas of your life as well.