maslow's Pyramid of needs examples in real life
Have you ever sat in front of your desk, the work or school folders piling up left and right and you just cannot find the motivation to start? Yes, that is exactly where I am right now.
Frustrated. Bored. Maybe even overwhelmed. But how come on some days we just seem so overexcited and put our whole heart into whatever our current project is, and the next day we are struggling so much to push forward?
So, to learn how we stay motivated I must explain why we sometimes are not motivated. Abraham Maslow explained the connection of a human motivation with the hierarchy of needs – so let’s take a look at this stunning pyramid:
The explanation behind Maslow’s pyramid is simple: Starting from the lowest row, the physiological level, human beings first look out to find all needed elements to survive. This is our survival instinct. If we are thirsty, we first will look for liquids or if we are moving to another place, we will first set up an accommodation to sleep in.
That is why most cities are located close to rivers or oceans as it was easier for people to gather water quickly and to even hunt down their food at the river. As most of the world is already set up with a stable food production this mostly is relevant for people in poor or war inflicted countries or in general homeless people. One factor that on the other hand fits the whole world population is sexual frustration. Who knew sex can also improve your motivation? I am sure everyone finds their own solution for this.
Find your Motivators and Demotivators to easily motivate yourself.
Once all the different aspects of the first row are covered and our minds are at rest, we will move on to the second stage: Safety. How scared would we be if we could not lock our doors at night? Or what would we do if we would lose our job at any second? Wouldn’t we be on alert every second.
Mulling over what could happen? I cannot speak for the whole world, but the German tax system deducts 2.6% of every employer’s monthly income for unemployment and supports with this sum unemployed people. The same goes for health insurance with a percentage of 14.6%. Therefore, the German government already covered two parts of the second row by law and took the fear of financing sickness and sudden unemployment from the population’s minds. Or at least they try.
How can you improve your feeling of safety? Especially when you are a person who worries all the time?
The next chapter talks about Love and Belonging. I think the most popular example is the relationship to one’s parents. How many of us were more motivated to study hard or to practice an instrument for hours or maybe even play sports all day just to earn our parents love and respect? I belong to this group. I was bad in school and I did a lot of incomprehensible things when I hit puberty, but I wanted nothing more than a single compliment.
Just one sign that my mother is proud of me. I have studied so hard that I did the impossible, I got an amazing grade in maths and even got a compliment by my math teacher. I saw that she was happy and relieved and maybe even a bit proud and I was happy even without words. How are your relationships to other people? Do you feel like you belong? How can you improve your relations?
Now that I look back at my own old self, I must admit that the motivation to please another is quite interesting. (Don’t try to please everyone, but if you are a people pleaser use it to your advantage to increase your motivation! – Quick side note from the people pleaser sister)
What could I achieve if I would have this kind of motivation in every area of my life? Would I have my own music album by now? Created a cool Instagram campaign? Or who knows, maybe I even would have gotten a scholarship to Oxford if I would have pushed it further. Ladies, the past is over, but the present is not, so let us find the motivation to transform into our best selves.
But first we have another stage to cover: Esteem. I really do not have to say much about it. If you ever had been on any social media platform you for sure have seen the world of the riches. Young adults and little kids bragging with their designer clothes, villas and sports cars while most American young adults drow in consumer debt.
Money builds your reputation and based on your reputation you get the amount of respect you earn in public eyes. But not only money can get you respect and self esteem shouldn’t only depend on others.
One of my friends always loved drawing while the other was a hard-typing hobby author. They knew they were good at this so they had self confidence and their role as a specialist gained them respect by others. I firmly believe that everyone has something they really like to do and are good at. So be proud of yourself. How else could you improve your self esteem?
Now let us come to the last row and the top of the pyramid: Self- actualization. I questioned myself for a long time if I have ever reached this part of Maslow’s hierarchy and surprisingly, I did hit this stage from time to time. There are these few days where I wake up absolutely happy and excited for no reason. I don’t really know how to explain this atmosphere, but it feels like my soul is at peace – like I can do whatever I please without any consequence that matters.
Maybe you are so far in Maslow’s pyramid that the last stage is your daily life, but we are all individuals and we can and should not compare other people’s stages to our own progress. We are all valid no matter where we are in life or how long we spend on one level.
So now come back to the wild waves of motivation:
Maslow explained in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” in 1943, that people aim for the self-actualization level in their life but first must solve the basic needs of the levels underneath.
I have created a free template for you below:
So let’s take the level of safety as an example: You want to buy a house, a very typical westernized dream of many Americans and Europeans (but also international)- but would you really have the motivation to save money for a house if you would have to starve? Probably not. It would be safe to assume that you would buy food instead and move the dream of an own house into the future.
To close this entry, I would really like to say that motivation and goal setting are both important parts of personal growth and both lead to an increased productivity.
