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3 Hidden Dangers in Self-Actualization
Many have at least heard of Abraham Maslow’s now-famous Hierarchy of Needs. The ideas he encapsulated weren’t new, but in 1943, when he wrote his book, A Theory of Human Motivation, he organized the ideas in a way that has made them very popular in psychology, in management training, and among self-help coaches the world over.
Maslow argued that each level must be satisfied before the next level can be achieved. Many psychologists today tend to believe that the hierarchy is more like a continuous cycle that we move through in life. However, there are still a large number who argue that you can’t truly enter a higher level until the level beneath is completely fulfilled.
In the last decade or so, in developed countries in particular, a growing number of business leaders, management experts, and self-help gurus have focused an outsize amount of attention on the concept of self-actualization. The concept wasn’t new when Maslow outlined his hierarchy, but his definition has gained perhaps more traction than any other because of the way he framed it.
The desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual]…
