During economic uncertainty, feeling happy, healthy and prosperous can be near impossible. When existence and lifestyle are threatened, your personal needs, like survival, will dominate your actions. For most of us, the need to stay in control drives our decisions so we work very hard not to lose. For others, the need for security dominates, while others may fear embarrassment from making mistakes. Regardless of the type of basic need, as human beings our needs must be satisfied in order to achieve personal well-being. In this economically challenged environment, you should expect needs to drive the following attitudes within yourself, your family and your peers at work:

1. Personal rights become more important than personal responsibility. Actions and decisions that are usually based on values and reflective of personal responsibility are replaced by selfish thinking and “my rights” thinking. An intense preoccupation with my rights suppresses the higher value of personal responsibility when wellbeing is threatened. An overwhelming survival instinct becomes the justification for looking out for self interests; level one in Maslow’s pyramid. What I “will” do to meet my needs is always stronger than what I “should” do.
2. Scarcity mentality keeps people from sharing recognition and profit. The most threatening risk is not higher prices or loss of revenue, but how you deal with it. Your attitude toward setbacks and confidence in the ability to manage challenges becomes the critical factor in determining the outcome you will get. Stephen Covey says, “People with a scarcity mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production.”

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