people get a lot of things wrong about Maslow's hierarchy of needs
first of all Maslow never even drew a pyramid a lot of people might not know
that you as you are probably very used to seeing a diagram on Facebook or in
your introductory psychology class or management class just see this pyramid
with cell factorization at the top and and different needs
well I looked through Maslow's writings and he never actually drew a pyramid to
represent his theory he actually viewed human too it was very clear to Maslow
that life is not a video game it's not as though you reach some level in life
like safety needs and then you get you reach the safety needs and you get a
certain number of that and then some voice from above is like Congrats you
even walked connection and then you go doo-doo-doo-doo and you move up to
connection and then and it's not how life works and Maslow was very clear
about that in a lot of ways Naza was a developmental psychologist at heart he
really believed that human development was constantly this two steps forward
one step back dynamic we're constantly choosing the growth option and then
we're failing in some way or we have some struggle which is inevitable part
of life and then we continue forward it's not life is not some trek up a
mountain and then you reach self-actualization as though you've
you've achieved self-actualization and and you and and the the final credits
come on you know like that again to continuing the video game better
metaphor no life is not like that self development is a process it's a it's a
it's it's a it's constantly a form of development and we are constantly
becoming our being in the world is constantly becoming and Mazza was very
clear about that Abraham Maslow made very clear that self actualization is
not the same as achievement a lot of people in fact may achieve quite a bit
in their lives and maybe on the cover of magazines may have all the awards they
have the whole trophy shelf of their house that they show off and
you'll feel deeply deeply unfulfilled we are we feel much more fulfilled when we
actualize our potentialities our deepest potentials the things that make us
unique the things that we can uniquely contribute to the world in ways that
have a positive impact on the world just realizing your talents without the
context of the meaning behind it is a recipe for a lot of talented people to
live a very unfulfilled life so Maslow defined self-actualization it's becoming
everything that you're capable of becoming and that you're most uniquely
capable becoming so we have a lot of things a lot of potentials that we share
with other humans so we have the need for safety we have the need for
connection we have the need for respect and a certain level of feeling worthy or
self esteem and we share that with others but massive thought of
self-actualization as those potential potentialities within you that are most
that if grown to full full heights will have the biggest impact on the world
uniquely what do you most uniquely have to contribute to this world I think
that's how Maslow really thought about self-actualization and that's how I tend
to think about self-actualization as well so I've revised Maslow's hierarchy
of needs for the 21st century building it on a solid scientific foundation so
my revised integrated hierarchy of needs views human development as in a process
of higher and higher levels of integration so instead of some trek up a
mountain we're actually a whole vehicle we're an integrated set of parts our
whole can become greater than the sum of its parts
but how we integrate those parts is really important for fulfillment in life
and ultimately transcendence so many people might not realize but towards the
latter years of Maslow's Abraham Maslow's life he was working on a new
theory of transcendence arguing that our highest motivation in life wasn't
self-actualization but it was actually transcendence what is good
at the highest level of human development the highest level of human
motivation transcendence what is good for oneself is automatically good for
others so the notion of selfishness breaks down in fact at the highest level
of consciousness we have a lot of dichotomy transcendence as Maslow put it
things such as evil versus good no longer makes any sense they're all part
of an integrated whole selfishness unselfishness doesn't make sense because
what does it mean to be selfish when what is good for you is simultaneously
good for society what does that even mean anymore so my revised hierarchy of
needs are you that a better metaphor than a static pyramid it's a sailboat
with a sailboat we absolutely need to feel to have a boat that is safe and
secure or else we don't go anywhere if you have a huge leak in your boat you're
not going you're not going very far in life or on the in the ocean but we also
but having being safe and secure and having a secure boat is not enough or
else we won't go anywhere what we need to do is we need to open up our sail as
well and when we open up our sail and we feel very comfortable and safe enough to
open up our sail we can really move through the ocean in the direction that
we want usually it's in a purposeful direction we have some sort of meaning
or purpose in life but as we're moving we're still moving in the in a vast
unknown of the sea and the truth is we're all in this together we're all in
our own boats going in our own direction but we're all in the sea we're all in
the vast unknown of the sea especially in this time we're living right now we
all see quite clearly how choppy these waters are but it's important that we
recognize that while safety is important in these unknown times we must not
neglect our higher possibilities in life they're just as important get smarter
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