In this video, we're going to talk about the term self-actualization and what
this means for us as professionals. So let's unpack the details.
Hey there.
Welcome back. Alex Lyon here and this channel
Communication Coach is here for your professional development. If you are a
rising leader then everything we talked about in this channel is meant to help
you move your leadership forward so that you can bring out the best and everybody
that you are leading. And it's a really important topic today, self actualization.
This is a term that we get thrown around a lot in professional settings and I
wanted to talk about how we can define this according to the original research
but then more importantly how we could start thinking about our own lives
through this lens. So in terms of the definition, we're going to pull from
Abraham Maslow's classic definition in his 1943 article about this he describes
self-actualization like this. The tendency might be phrased as the desire
to become more and more what one is to become everything that one is capable of
becoming. Self-actualization is a need. And as the army slogan back in the day
used to talk about it, Join the army. Be all that you can be. In other words, we
want to become everything that we are capable of becoming. Self-actualization
is the top need on a hierarchy that Maslow described. So it's a pyramid.
It's the highest and fifth level. On the bottom we have our basic physical
needs like food shelter clothing. Next level up is our safety needs. The third
level is our need for belonging or affiliation with other people. The fourth
level is esteem. That can be self esteem or it could also be the esteem of others.
And at the top of the pyramid, once you've met all the other needs below it,
people can pursue the need of self-actualization. So this is clearly a
need. And I want to go on and quote a different part of that article. Even if
all these other needs are satisfied, he's talking about the rest of them below it
on the pyramid, we may still often if not always expect that a new discontent and
will soon develop unless the individual is doing what he is fitted for.
A musician must make music. An artist must paint. A poet must write if he is to be
ultimately happy. What a man can be he must be. This need we may call
self-actualization. So clearly this is a need. Now why do I keep emphasizing that?
well a lot of times I hear in general conversation on the internet and in
social circles in professional settings that self-actualization is somehow
something that you achieve. In other words, it's a state of being that you
finally arrive at like some type of enlightenment, like you get better and
better and you're so talented and so amazing that you have to quote "self
actualized" And I actually don't think it's very helpful to think about
self-actualization this way because Maslow and many other people almost
always talk about this as a need, a desire inside of us and we can't measure
the pursuit of that desire by some kind of fame or status or public success or
money that we earn because we can be pursuing a need and nobody else really
has to acknowledge it but we're still pursuing that need that desire inside of
us. For example, the famous painter Vincent van Gogh. He's a genius
level painter obviously working very hard to paint but he sold almost no
paintings during his lifetime and it was only later that he had that fame and
public praise. And he didn't experience any of it but he was still pursuing that
need that was put inside him. So I think it's really helpful to think about
self-actualization this way. It's about that personal growth and pursuing the
kind of the kind of work that we are fitted for and it could be painting and
it could be making music it could be being a parent like being a mother.
That's all part of this and when we're pursuing that need, we probably feel
pretty darn good because we're doing work that seems fitted to us. There's a
great documentary movie that I think shows this it's called Jiro Dreams
of Sushi. I saw it on Netflix not long ago. Jiro Ono is the most famous sushi
chef in the world, really. He's actually still making sushi in his 90s. He's been
doing this for over 70 years and he's completely obsessed with making sushi.
And here is a quotation from Jiro Ono in that movie. He said you have to fall in
love with your work. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. that
is the key to happiness. While I'm making the sushi, I feel victorious. That's how
it makes me feel. So when we see someone doing work at such high levels, and he's
world famous. You can't get a, you can't eat his restaurant. It's booked a
year in advance. When you see people doing work at this level, they are
pursuing that need that is inside of them. And he even talks about how he just
has to make sushi. He dreams of sushi, which is the name of the movie. However,
he's also famous. He's also financially successful. He's also really well-known
and gets praise from everybody. But keep this in mind, he was making sushi and
digging into that need long before any of that. He only really became famous in
the last 20 or so years. Self-actualization is not tied to fame
and fortune and money. So now let's get to the application. I want to talk about
how this applies to you personally and then I want to talk about this sticky
issue of happiness. Are we really talking about the source of happiness here when
we talk about self-actualization? So in terms of practical application you as a
leader should do in an inventory of yourself. What really are you meant to do?
Because as a leader you probably are competent at a lot of different things
and as a result you get pulled in a lot of different directions. But what type of
work or service gets you most fired up? If you take fame out of it. You take
fortune out of it. You take public praise out of it. What type of work do you
absolutely love what makes you feel electric while you're doing the work
and if there's a persistent desire inside you to do a certain kind of
activity? Certain kind of work. Certain kind of service. That's a huge clue as to
the need that is part of how you were designed. So, for me, I love teaching, for
example. And I don't care if I'm teaching somebody about this concept of
self-actualization or whether I'm teaching them some public speaking.
I just love teaching and I feel most alive really when I'm pursuing that and
doing it well. So now let's pivot and talk about the important concept of
happiness because Maslow talks about this, if the person is to be ultimately
happy he must be doing work that he's fitted for that he's called to do and
Jiro Ono from Jiro Dreams of Sushi also talks about this. The key to
happiness is to get completely into your work and to master your skill. so I want
to then part ways on this conversation with some of those other ideas. I do not
believe that pursuing the need for self-actualization is the key to
happiness and here's why. A lot of successful people that have obviously
been pursuing work they're fitted for, like Vincent van Gogh like many famous
musicians and poets and artists and so forth, are deeply unhappy. And you know
this from reading the news. They have everything. And all of that they have is
often out of the outgrowth of how excellent they are at what they do and
yet they're still deeply unhappy. A lot of times and so if you step back for a
second. What's really going on here? Well here's what I think is going on. Here's
well now I can start agreeing with Maslow about happiness and Jiro Ono
about happiness. I think that when we're doing that kind of work that were fitted
for, when we are pursuing self-actualization, it does, in the moment,
make us feel great. We might feel at our best in those moments of that hard work
that we're dedicating ourselves to. But that moment of happiness does not
necessarily translate to our lives overall. In other words, if I'm great at
what I do and I love it, it doesn't
me now I'm a happy person. It doesn't unlock happiness in all the areas of my
life. It's a little bit specific to when I'm doing the work I feel great. and that
helps for me explain how I can still pursue the need I have in me for
self-actualization but not expect it to be my source of happiness from my life
overall. This, life, happiness overall is a whole other topic and I don't want to
try to answer that in this video. this is about the need of self-actualization but
I do think it's an important differentiation point. It's not state of
being that you reach. Success, that's not what self-actualization is. It's a need
and it's not necessarily the key to unlocking overall happiness in your life.
It might be one piece of what makes you happy when you're doing that work. so now
I want to ask you how do you see self-actualization applying to your own
life. I would love to hear your thoughts on that question in that section below
the video. I look forward to reading and responding to your comments there. To
thanks, God bless and I will see you in the next video.