Needs vs desires

Needs vs Desires

Human perception over our needs is at best limited, but in most cases is never even taken into account. People have a tendency to live their lives based on the misleading idea that we will constantly try to obtain what we want, while the truth is that we only put in effort to obtain what we need.

To understand why this is happening, we first need to take a closer look at what defines “desires” and “needs”.

Desires

Well, first of all, desires are things we think we need. They are usually projected in the future and promise our minds well-being and satisfaction.

When describing desires, we use words like “nice”, “wish”, “would” or “could” in order to represent an ideal situation in the future where our lives are better and with a higher degree of satisfaction.

"It would be nice to have a mercedes"

"I could buy a mercedes"

Needs

On the other hand, because of the subconscious nature of our needs, we find it difficult to describe needs, even though their satisfaction implies rapid and seamless action.

Needs are always focused on the present or the immediate future and have a great impact on our personal satisfaction and our mood. When describing needs, we use words like “want”, “must” and “should”, but defining the need and the expected outcome is usually difficult as it is based on our perception and internal beliefs.

"I want a cozy house for my family."

Most of our failures and negative emotional states are generated by our belief that we should accomplish our desires while at the same time not being willing or able to invest the necessary time and resources into achieving them.

Balance and success depend on the awareness of our needs and how we achieve them and the filtering of our desires, making sure we invest time and resources in relevant, intrinsic desires

Text from Vlad Ungureanu, "Needs vs Desires. Seen in: https://medium.com/@learnstuff.io/needs-vs-desires-a333a0a40e4c