Through life balance coaching, you help your clients meet the demands of work, family, and themselves. By understanding the four basic human needs and establishing strategies to increasing your clients’ fulfillment of each need, they will not only be happier, but their new positive behavior will be self-reinforcing.

Each of Us Is “Hardwired” with Four Fundamental Needs

Life balance coaching requires the understanding of our needs for Significance, Love and Connection, Certainty and Variety, which are fundamental to all humans. We are all driven to satisfy each of these needs, and the higher our level of satisfaction for each the happier we are. However, as we are caught up in living life, day to day, it is easy to focus on the urgent and underestimate the importance satisfying all of the needs.

Fundamental Needs Often Seem at Odds

Making things more difficult is the fact that these fundamental needs may seem at odds. For example, the need for Certainty seems to work against the need for Variety. In addition, we can meet these needs with destructive behavior. For example, shoplifting can add Variety to your life.

The Heart of Life Balance Coaching

The value of the life balance coach lies in their objectivity and their ability to formulate strategies that better meet all four of the needs in constructive ways. Life balance coaching begins with establishing the current level of satisfaction with each need and the strategies the client is currently using to meet them. Then the coach helps to formulate strategies that increase the level of satisfying all needs, while not decreasing any. For example, the client may have a high level of Significance from their leadership role at work but reduces the sense of Love and Connection at home by carrying over that style when they come home, the coach can formulate and anchor new behaviors for the client at home. Thus the coach helps the client meet both needs at a higher level. This new pattern of behavior is self-reinforcing since the client is not required to trade satisfying one need against another. And the client is happier leading a more balanced life.

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach