Needs pyramid
Five cards up the steps of needs, to see which step has sagged and where the feeling of not enough air comes from.
The technique below lives inside Self-Work Navigator on our platform – open it and the steps walk you through automatically.
Open Self-Work NavigatorAbout this technique
Needs pyramid is a 20-minute self-reflection technique with metaphorical associative cards (MAC). Five cards up the steps of needs, to see which step has sagged and where the feeling of not enough air comes from. The session is designed to be run on your own, in your browser, without a therapist or a registration step.
It fits when the feeling that something is missing, without knowing what exactly. On the platform the steps walk you through automatically inside Self-Work Navigator, so you don't have to remember anything beyond the question you brought. We recommend starting with Momentum – it lands well for this kind of work.
When this technique fits
- The feeling that something is missing, without knowing what exactly.
- Plans keep falling through and you want to check whether something lower down has sagged.
- A lot of energy goes into holding things together, and it is unclear what is being held.
When it doesn't fit
- If the question is about how your effort is split between areas of life, take Life priorities: that one has six equal areas, this one has steps from the bottom up.
- If the bottom step sags for an external reason that laying out cards will not solve (no money for food, nowhere to live), the layout will not help and may add guilt.
What you need
- 20 minutes alone.
- A general-purpose deck, or two: one about the body, one about work.
- Room for five cards in a staircase.
The layout
5 positions. Each one has its own question, and the card in it answers that question rather than the whole request.
- 1BasicsHow are sleep, food and movement?
- 2SafetyWhere is my ground?
- 3BelongingWhere am I expected?
- 4RecognitionDoes what I do get noticed?
- 5My own workWhat do I do because it is me?
How the session goes
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1
About the model this layout stands on
The five steps are Abraham Maslow's framework from 1943: basics, safety, belonging, recognition, self-realisation.
It is a convenient staircase, not a law of nature. People make art while their basics are a mess, and hold on to recognition while their safety falls apart. We use the framework as an order for the conversation, not as a rule about life.
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2
Card 1 face up: the basics
Sleep, food, movement, a roof, health. Put the card at the foot of the staircase.
- What is on the card?
- What of the basics is all right now?
- What has sagged so long that I stopped noticing?
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3
Card 2 face up: safety
Steadiness: money, work, a predictable tomorrow, the health of people close to you. The second step.
- What is on the card?
- Where do I feel ground under my feet, and where not?
- What do I do to keep that ground?
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4
Card 3 face up: belonging
The people you count as yours, who count you as theirs. The third step.
- What is on the card?
- Where am I expected?
- Who can I call on a bad day?
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5
Cards 4 and 5 face up: recognition and my own work
The fourth step is recognition: that what you do gets noticed and valued. The fifth is self-realisation: what you do because it is you.
Put two cards at the top of the staircase.
- What is on each card?
- Which of these two is missing more?
- What do I call my own work, if I set other people's expectations aside?
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6
Look at the whole staircase
Five cards from the bottom up. It often turns out that the anxiety at the top grows from a hole at the bottom, and then the work is not where it hurts.
- Which step has sagged?
- Am I building the top while the bottom wobbles?
- Which step holds the rest up?
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7
One step on the sagging level
Take the lowest of the sagging ones and one action for the week. The lowest, not the most important: the top does not hold without the bottom.
- What will I do this week?
- What stopped me from doing it before?
Closing the session
Gather the cards. If the step you found is on the bottom level, that is good news: the basics are the fastest thing to repair, and they pull the rest up with them.
If a lot came up
Sometimes the layout shows that everything sags at once, from bottom to top. Choosing a step in that state is pointless, and working with cards alone is not what is needed. Start with sleep and the body, and if it runs on for weeks, it is worth going to a specialist.
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About metaphorical associative cards (MAC)
Metaphorical associative cards (MAC) are a projective tool used in self-reflection, coaching and therapy. Unlike tarot or oracle cards, they don't predict anything – the image becomes a mirror for what is already happening inside you, helping you put words on something that was unclear or hard to say directly.
You can work with MAC cards alone, with a therapist, or in a group. The card itself is not the answer; it is a frame for asking yourself a more honest question. The same image can mean very different things to two different people on the same day, and that is exactly what makes the tool work.