In the 1940s Abraham Maslow defined a principle that identified our needs that enabled us to live a successful life.
Maslow described these needs as a physiological or psychological deficiency that a person feels the compulsion to satisfy. This need will create tensions that will influence a person’s attitudes and behaviours. Maslow formed a theory based on his definition of need that proposes that humans have multiple needs and that these needs exist in a hierarchical order. Maslow’s theory identified five levels of human need and is based on the following two principles:
One, the deficit principle: A satisfied need no longer motivates behaviour because people will only act to satisfy deprived needs. Two, the progression principle: A need at any level only comes into play after a lower-level need has been satisfied.
In his principle Maslow identified two levels of need, those needs at a lower level which need satisfying first and those needs at a higher level which cannot be satisfied until the lower level needs have been satisfied. The highest needs are self actualisation or self fulfilment.
This may all seem like common sense but very few people appear to be following through on building the simple, basic foundations outlined within Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
In fact society today imagines that all lower level needs have been achieved historically and we now only have to find self fulfilment.
But this is wrong, the principle applies to everyone, everyday. If we ignore our daily requirement to satisfy lower level needs we can never achieve fulfilment. Our life will be very difficult and it could be dominated by illness.
This lack of recognising our needs on a daily basis is creating a barrier to success and to fulfilment, we inflict upon ourselves low levels of health and a shorter life than we may want or expect.
Identifying and satisfying our needs EVERYDAY can help us lead a more productive & creative life. If our companies, instead of spending billions on quirky management initiatives , spent their money on ensuring that staff were in a position to satisfy their daily needs they would achieve quite naturally a huge benefit in productivity & creativity.
In simple terms if we provide an environment where people sleep eight hours a day, take regular exercise outside in natural sunlight, eat a regular balanced diet that is organic in its basis, where people talk with each other, engaged in conversation and where we learn to walk, sit & stand in a good position. If we conduct good thought management and look at our health in an holistic manner our minds and bodies will perform as they were designed.