Often, decisions can be consciously articulated. If you want Chinese food for dinner, that’s easy to justify. But for both quicker and bigger decisions, you are likely more influenced by your subconscious than you realize. The importance of knowing potential subconscious influencing factors is thus extremely high to deciphering your actions.

There are three models of subconscious needs and desires, the first of which is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He articulates the following needs: physiological fulfillment (like food and shelter), safety, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization (a level which he claimed few people reach). Identifying your location in the hierarchy is identifying your subconscious needs, which can then inform how you appraise different choices in life.

By making these unconscious needs conscious, we give ourselves more clarity and control over the process of making decisions. Maslow’s theory also reminds us that our needs can and do change over our lifetime, and we need to factor this in for longer term decisions.

The next model is Tony Robbins’s six needs: love and connection, certainty, uncertainty and variety, significance, contribution, and growth.

Robbins believed that each of us is motivated to act by at most two of these needs, which guide how we act and what we value in the world.

Unlike Maslow’s hierarchy, these needs function like traits and are present in different quantities in people, as well as being expressed in endless different ways. Pinpoint your particular needs and understand your decision process better.

There is nothing inherently better or worse about any of the levels in the hierarchy, or between the six fundamental needs. It’s more about discovering what is actually motivating you so that the decisions you make are satisfying your needs.

Understanding your needs helps you discover your values and principles, ensuring the decisions you make fulfil you on a deeper level.

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