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You are living as an explorer and discoverer. Take a look at the Maslow hierarchy of needs below, now think about the people in your life and look for guides that has "been there and done that" to show and point the way. You do not have to choose a direction and hope for the best, you may ask direction from guides and make their life knowledge your own. You grow from and mature through experiences. You live at the top of your life; life should not be living you.
If you made one choice every month to move towards growth and what you want, what would be the difference in your life? According to the Maslow hierarchy of needs, self actualization happens at the top of the pyramid of needs model.
Self actualization can happen anywhere in the Maslow hierarchy of needs and you will continue to grow as you practice self actualization.
You are born at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, you are born self-actualized!
In successful families the competencies to practice living self-actualized are learnt almost naturally; you learn with “safety nets” in place during life’s exercises. For example, when a child in a family of business owners builds a first business and fails, the family has the capacity to absorb the failure, both in the form of understanding that becoming adept in business skills are a long journey and the ability to cover the bills. In a family without this knowledge, the business becomes a fight for survival and not a learning curve. With the Ebio program and the vast knowledge on the web everyone can now take the exercises home with safety nets. What you leart from your mother matters.
We learned at Harvard business school that 5% successful families manage as high as 85% of the production capacity of the world. They know so much and spend most of their time at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs and beyond. They know the right people and have access to opportunities and resources with the competencies to use all of it. All you have to do is to create access for yourself to the same knowledge they have. In our Ebio program, we are currently writing and refining the exercises and processes for you to practice living life self-actualized, no matter where you believe you are on the Maslow hierarchy of needs. We will keep you up to date! You automatically become part of the owners of production capacity and become more and more self-actualized through excersise.
What you think drives you. Change what you think by knowing more. Fear and anger drives most of us. We fear failure, new things, the unknown, etc. We are angry because we feel we are not privileged and no one is doing something about it. Get unstuck from this attitude blockage.
Your thoughts lead to desires.
Desires lead to actions.
Actions lead to habits.
Habits form your character.
Character determines who and what you are.
The processes and exercises in the "Maslow hierarchy of needs and self actualization" series will help with getting your mind to focus at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs pyramid and the requirements at the bottom of the Maslow hierarchy of needs pyramid will be satisfied almost without you noticing.
Align your goals with growth opportunities and resources. Apply your talents and passions. You should begin to feel you are having more and more fun while you add value to others. You could call it work since you also earn money doing it. If you do things you feel is hard to do, like for example those reports you have to write and these "hard to do things" only take up 50% of your time, even 60% of your time, you are in a good place. This means that the rest is fun work. Strive to delegate more of what you do not want to do to people you know enjoy the work you do not enjoy doing. You use delegation to grow your production capacity or work arena. You now gain the time to volunteer for the work you want. You incrementally grow your alignment with what you enjoy doing. The human is a goal driven device; every human needs a goal to strive for. What is your goal? How will you apply the Maslow hierarchy of needs insights to your unique situation?
We will use the example of Victor Frankl throughout this article. He was captured during the Second World War and came to amazing conclusion concerning man and the way we interact with life in the concentration camps. Victor Frankl went through unbelievably tough times in the camps, but he survived by living self-actualized. Victor Frankl lived at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs so that he could survive at the bottom; more on Victor Frankl later in this article.
We were exposed to the Maslow hierarchy of needs for the first time working with HP in California, then again when we worked with Gernia van Niekerk and Zanele Mbeki on different projects in South Africa.
Apparently Maslow stated in his latter years that the pyramid is open at the top. We have been unable to confirm this. If you know where we could find a reputable source for this statement, please let us know. Graves and Hertzberg opened up the Maslow hierarchy of needs pyramid with their continued work. We have developed a version of the Maslow hierarchy of needs we use in our research, the open at the top Maslow hierarchy of needs pyramid. We believe self-actualization does not have an end and start when we are conceived.
We are currently in the process of completing a workbook which will compile all the different topics we apply in our career and business development. The workbook will also contain stories of how others applied these processes. Our most sincere thanks to Prof. Kroon, Prof. Shahia and all the other individuals we work with. This article and others will be part of this workbook and will soon be for sale on the internet. You will be able to apply this workbook of exercises and footprints to the platform you already have, building on your current platform you will put rocket engines on your career and life.
Trust yourself to know what knowledge you need when you need this knowledge and how to make this knowledge your own and apply it to your life today – living self-actualized – continuously!
Chapter 4
1. The profit and fun of self actualization, also known as Enterprise Living
Introduction to living self actualized, Enterprize Living
You are born self-actualized, at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs
Definitions of the terms we use in Maslow hierarchy of needs
Exercises to practice being self-actualized
The Maslow hierarchy of needs challenge us to live self-actualized and be intrinsically motivated. Being self-actualization is a state of mind leading to the actions of your choice. It matters where and with whom you are born. This place gives you your starting point. With this intervention, the rate at which you grow becomes your choice.
We believe you are born self-actualized and intrinsically motivated. You can live a self-actualized life. What does it mean to be self-actualized? It means you know you have choices and you strive to make the best choice in different situations; you live by your choices, you learn, engage the world and contribute to those around you. You are able to think from the top down.
Living self-actualized means:
You are more productive in your right career or business.
(
Earning more is a natural by product of right career choices.)
You know you can choose.
(Your environment takes shape around the choices you make.)
Do the work you choose – you know which work fits best with your goals.
(It might sometimes be necessary to do work you do not enjoy. These episodes should only last for small periods of time when living self actualized.)
Choose where you live and how you live.
(Think at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs and not from the bottom up)
Once you have identified your goals and can base your choices on them; you will experience a strong sense of satisfaction, well-being, belonging, acceptance, meaning and significance. Goals can change, as you grow in knowledge and insight, your goals will change based on new information, knowledge and insight and they should, it’s a healthy process for re-evaluation – asking the question:
“If I continue on this path, where will I be in five years and do I want to be there?”
Can one turn the Maslow hierarchy of needs around and start at the top? We believe you can! By living self-actualized you satisfy lower level needs of the Maslow hierarchy of needs almost on the fly; operate at self-actualized levels at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs even when you are deprived of all basic needs as Viktor Frankl did.
You are born self-actualized, self actualization is a way of thinking at the top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs
You are born self-actualized. You live self-actualized by acquiring knowledge and learn to base your choices on that knowledge. You realize you need more knowledge to deal with a situation, being self-actualized means you know how to find this specific knowledge and apply it. When you were a baby you observed with an instinctive desire to imitate role models – your parents. You attempted many new things without fear. You explored, discovered and experienced; you exercised about 1500 times to learn to use your hand. You can still do that!
We will look at knowledge applied by Viktor Frankl and thriving in the African veldt with bush craft. Only you know what you need to practice personal self actualization, nobody else can do it for you. If they say they can, they probably mean well. They will not be able to live self actualized for you, but most of these individuals will be able to practice self-actualization with you.
Introduction to the different Maslow hierarchy of needs and self actualization concepts
A self-actualized person has knowledge and knows how to exercise that knowledge in different situations. They know how to apply knowledge and quickly decide who, what, how, where and when action is required. Self-actualized people naturally contribute to other people.
What do rich people do with all their money? They exercise choice and buy convenience, influence and maybe power. Even though money helps, it is not required for you to make self-actualized choices.
Following is the definitions of the main concepts we talk about in this article:
Self-actualization:
Self-actualization (a term originated by Kurt Goldstein) is the instinctual need of humans to make the most of their unique abilities and to strive to be the best they can be. Maslow described it as follows:
Self Actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is. (Psychological Review, 1949)
Maslow writes the following of self-actualizing people:
They embrace the facts and realities of the world (including them) rather than denying or avoiding them.
They are spontaneous in their ideas and actions.
They are creative.
They are interested in solving problems; this often includes the problems of others. Solving these problems is often a key focus in their lives.
They feel closeness to other people, and generally appreciate life.
They have a system of morality that is fully internalized and independent of external authority.
They judge others without prejudice, in a way that can be termed objective.
What is motivation? There are many different opinions and views on the topic of motivation. Views of motivation differ and applications thereof even more.
The issue is not so much to understand motivation, but to live motivated, to live everyday in that fun state where work becomes play. Motivation is not something to be achieved; it is something that is created through your choices daily. Read what Wikipedia has to say about motivation.
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation has been intensely studied by educational psychologists since the 1970s, and numerous studies have found it to be associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students.
There is currently no 'grand unified theory' to explain the origin or elements intrinsic motivation. Most explanations combine elements of Graham Weiner's attribution theory, Bandura's work on self-efficacy and other studies relating to locus of control and goal orientation. Thus it is thought that students are more likely to experience intrinsic motivation if they:
Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (eg. the amount of effort they put in, not 'fixed ability').
Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (eg. the results are not determined by dumb luck.)
Are motivated towards deep 'mastery' of a topic, instead of just rote-learning 'performance' to get good grades.
Note how the idea of reward for achievement is absent from this model of intrinsic motivation. Rewards are an extrinsic factor.
This model of intrinsic motivation has emerged from three (3) decades of research by hundreds of educationalists and is still evolving.
Short exercises to begin practicing being more and more self-actualized
We want to give you quick, small exercises to get you going now. In future we will be sending you small exercises via the "Maslow hierarchy of needs and living self actualized" series to remind you to practise living self-actualized. If you think your friends will benefit from these small exercises, please send them an invitation to join our Maslow hierarchy of needs newsletter.
Being self-actualized and applying the open Maslow hierarchy of needs when you are in the African bush!
Imagine you end up in our lovely bush veldt of Southern Africa and its dark… You are alone, you have no real knowledge of the veldt and you hear all kinds of very scary noises around you. You see the leopard. Look away immediately and slowly wander off, away from it and it may leave you alone. Stare at it and it will attack you; the leopard will think you are challenging it.
You hear that rumbling roar of the African lion and it sounds like its right next to you! What would you do? Run? The biggest mistake you could make! If the lion were pondering the thought of eating you, running would confirm you as prey. Most lions are more afraid of you than you of it. What you should actually do is, crazy I know, but if a lion notice you, look at it not away from it!
Knowledge and the application thereof (self-actualized) could mean the difference between life and death in the African bush, there is not such a big difference between the real African bush and the bush of life! If you would want to have an awesome self-actualizing experience of the African bush, book a trip with Callie Roos.
People with bush craft in Africa know what to eat, how to find direction, to look at the animals and learn where to find water to drink and fruit to eat, avoid dangerous animals and always enjoy the lore of the bush. Without knowledge, the bush is a very scary place. The lion roars and you think you are prey!
Look at the baboons, at what they eat and eat the same.
Follow the animals in the evening to find water.
Look for shelter around the rocky outcrops, known as koppies in South Africa.
Know where north, south, east and west is by looking at the Sun and the stars.
Simple knowledge, but if you find yourself in the veldt and you do not have this knowledge…
The same goes for the bush of life; it can be jungle out there! You are wearing a yellow tie. Take the simple example of a colleague walking up to you and saying: “People with yellow ties are thieves. All people with yellow ties always steal, cheat and lie.” Take a moment and think how you would react in this situation…
Would your natural reaction be to find the most self-actualizing solution for both yourself and your colleague? How would we manage the above situation? The most likely explanation lies in the other person’s experiences and has nothing to do with you. Feel relaxed by moving your fingers and toes. You get control back to the big brain. Breathe deeply and hold for a bit. You feed the brain carbon dioxide and get time to think. You got rid of the fight or flight state which is a very normal response that could be perceived as an attack on your person. You are now ready to choose and apply a few different models and processes:
In follow-up emails in the “Maslow hierarchy of needs and living Self-actualized” series we will dissect these situations in human interaction in more detail. We enjoyed the book “The Games People Play” by Eric Berne. We learnt a great deal from transaction analysis, using transactional analysis one can appreciate the different ways in which we communicate, be it nurturing parent, adult or playful child, being aware helps build and mature our way of communicating with others.
Know more, to have more choices and get more of what you choose. Know more to earn more! There will be a few exercises in the last chapter of this article, but we will be sending you the self-actualizing matrix in the next email in our “Maslow and living Self-actualized” series. You can use this matrix and the discovery processes therein to identify which areas in your life – career, business, personal life, relationships - you would like to focus on and grow. If you did not already sign up for this series, you can do so here!
Living self-actualized and being intrinsically motivated automatically has the by-product of high self-esteem and self-worth awakened. It is and will always be inside you. Do the simple exercises at the end of this article to practice and mature living self-actualized, thus building self-worth and self-esteem.
In the bush, we feel safe and can have fun if you have the knowledge of what to expect. The same applies to the bush of life!
Why? I found this book to be one of the most informative books on how humans relate and emotions take shape. Use this book to learn how to better relate to different types of personalities, build your relationships and build your career.
