Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow developed and then published in 1954 his Hierarchy of Needs and they are as relevant today as they were illuminating when first published. Maslow revised his pyramid in 1970 adding at the top of the pyramid; the cognitive needs (first the need to acquire knowledge, then the need to understand that knowledge) above the need for self-actualization, and the aesthetic needs (the needs to create and/or experience beauty, balance, structure, etc.). Most pyramids today don't show these newer top two steps. I believe that the Entrepreneur needs to understand these two newer and higher levels.

When you reach success by your definition, e.g., financial freedom, business at the level you envisioned and planned for, family and friends are strong and close, etc., then what motivates you to continue? If you don't know the answer to this question then your plans may fall short. I believe that life must be a complete balance of family, friends, business, spirituality, community involvement and special interest/hobbies. Hobbies tend to be the area we sacrifice while managing our business and trying to balance the demands of business with the demands of our family.

If you ignore hobbies and special interests then you may actually be creating a boring individual who only talks about business which could harm your personal business sales as well as lose you friends. But think of the future when you need to back away from the business more and more each year to make room for the youth and your children, what will motivate you to continue to succeed and accept the passing of the torch? Once an Entrepreneur always an Entrepreneur.

You should always be in pursuit of knowledge but in Maslow's higher levels of the pyramid you are now pursuing understanding of the knowledge. An example would be Richard Gere and other celebrities who after achieving financial freedom and success started a journey of spiritual knowledge and understanding. As they travelled the world in pursuit of understanding their appreciation of beauty in all things increased including people, art, music and in many ways were driven to help with our collective awareness of the beauty they discovered. They had created and given themself a reason to live without the 100% pursuit of business. We can leave the business we created to the youth and I believe the truly successful are the ones who have reached the top of Maslow's 1970 Pyramid.

When creating your personal plan, keep asking yourself; Where are you on Maslow's Pyramid today and in what year do you plan to be reaching the the top newer steps of the pyramid?