Friday, December 23, 2005

Personal Development: Your Career Development & Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Hi,

Do you know there is a link between your career development and the famous Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?

Everyone who studied management and/or psychology will know something about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. But people seldom be aware of its relationship with your career development!

According to Maslow, people are driven by lacking in the lower 4 levels of physiological, security, relationship and self-esteem needs. In another words, if people perceive themselves not having enough of any of the above 4 needs, they will react to seek to fulfill their needs. People are driven by their fear of lacking.

When someone is under the emotion of fear, one is limited by what's fearing him/her. Development is getting beyond one's limitations to expand his capabilities. No matter how successful one's career is, if one is driven by fear of lacking, there is no development.

Until one had satisfied his/her lower needs and starts his/her path to Self-Actualization, one is only being forced to improve in order to meet one's lower needs. Don't you find so many "successful" people not being happy at all?

Key to a happier life and career can be easy. Just lower your lower needs. You don't need much to fulfill your physiological and security needs. Our government has already provided us very good protection for our basic needs. We do not need too many friends to feel being loved. When one feels satisfied in the lower needs, self-esteem will come automatically. When we can earn our own living, we feel esteemed.

Then we can start to live the way we like. That's self-actualization!

Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel

P.S. I started this article in 2005, but never finish it till Oct 2011! As part of my own development, I decided to complete it today (Oct 7 2011)!