Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Hawking tires, batteries and other automotive accessories on my travels through Michigan wasn't the best job I had. Obviously three months was enough for me to make a decision to leave Ford. Now I find myself in Hartford, Connecticut where I get to stare at a computer monitor for a good 50 hours a week at least. Direct sales and IT work have led me astray from my major. My career to much personal dissatisfaction has not been a product of my education. Not all is lost. I still avidly read various publications to see what current trends are in the marketplace. Day in and day out I look at the companies I work(ed) for and other corporations from the angle of how they could improve their business. How they could expand to different market segments or retain their current customers. Dorky, sure, it interests me nonetheless.

Lately I have started to think about Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. A pyramid with multilayers that dotted the pages of every marketing textbook I ever had. I came to understand this pyramid. I assure you I could easily fill in the correct answer on the scantron sheet if it was on a test. Its now, out in the real world I have started to see its flaws.

First layer: Physiological needs. I agree. These are the needs for air, water, sleep, etc. Without these needs we can't function. Maslow is one for one.

Second Layer: Safety needs. These deal with establishing stability and consistency in a chaotic world. I can only wonder what Maslow meant by this now. Roof over my head is a need and one that should be fulfilled. Establishing consistency in a chaotic world.....well I don't see that happening. I don't know how much the world or our country has changed since I was a kid. What I do know is that I am more incline to watch the news. I am more aware of what is going on globally. I am more aware that this world is very chaotic. For many people out there, they will never get to the next level of needs because this one is impossible to fulfill.

Love is next followed by esteem. Important needs. But it’s the last one. The top of the pyramid I see as being more important than love or esteem. Self Actualization. This is the need I want to obtain. Self actualization deals with the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. Like a kid at a toy store. I WANT THIS. I want this more than any need before this. Now if I was a bum on a street with no food or shelter I may rethink my response. Still I want to break through the cubicle/Dilbert mold. I want to maximize my potential. I want to look back say look at what I did. I'm the shit. Instead of what the hell am I doing. This work is shit.