Monday, June 04, 2007

5 Days of Happiness, Part 1

Anyone who reads this blog at length probably understands that part of my message that I illustrate and narrate with it is to pursuit of success. A component of success that can be overlooked by the overzealous, but is a critical component in the truest of successes is that of happiness. The most successful men and women derive happiness and a sense of self-worth from those things that also bring them enough wealth to make them comfortable.

For the love of money is the root of all evil:” 1 Timothy 6:10. The acquisition of money and wealth should not be what one loves, for that can lead to greed: Regardless of what Gordon Gecko says, Greed is not good. Money is a tool that should be used for the achieving self-actualization. Dr. Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, proposed a theory that contended that as people meet their “basic needs,” they seek to satisfy successively “higher needs.”

1. Physiological Needs: The essentials—food, water, sleep, etc. Anything that aids in your body continuing to breathe and move forward from day to day.

2. Safety Needs: Security, employment, and generally anything that offers you the sense of feeling safe and secure.

3. Social Needs: Everyone needs a sense of belonging—whether to another person, a family, a friend, or an organization—everyone needs to feel like they are part of the larger community.

4. Esteem Needs: Confidence, respect, achievement—When you feel appreciated for those things that you have defined as adding to your self-worth, you are well on your way to achieving the esteem need.

5. Self Actualization: The pinnacle of the hierarchy allows a person to achieve great things.

Dr. Maslow studied individuals that made profound marks on history (ala Albert Einstein) instead of those individuals that had a tendency to be maladapted and a burden on society (“The study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy.”). The first 4 needs are deficiency needs in that they are a priority while—and only while—an individual is on that level. For example, let’s say you are doing great in your life: You are an active member of your community, respected by your peers, and have a family with a house and a white picket fence. All of the sudden this changes when you lose your job. Instead of the person that you were, having met your physiological, safety, social, and esteem needs and well on your way to becoming self-actualized, you are now forced to look for new employment. You might have to worry about keeping the roof over your head and food on your table; these needs that were once far away from being your worries and priorities are now forefront on your radar. As you move up the hierarchy the needs that have been met on one level become less of a priority that what is on your current level of the hierarchy: As the priorities are met on one level, you begin to work towards meeting the priorities on the next level.

A staff sergeant that I once worked with had a view of money that I reference to this day: “Money is like oxygen—the more you have of it, the easier it is to breathe.” Money is not the goal to have for someone who seeks success; rather it is the tool for achieving it. Money helps to meet physiological and safety needs, freeing up your time and other resources towards the priorities of social and esteem needs, on your way to self actualization.

No comments: