Today, let's take a look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in reference to first things first. Yesterday we talked about the sequence of things and building a strong foundation from which things can flourish. Psychologist Abraham Maslow asserted that there were 5 levels of needs to be satisfied for an individual to be able to achieve peak human experience. The hierarchy is shaped as a pyramid, and the base needs are our physiological needs. Think about things such as air, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep, warmth. A great example of this are many of the reality TV shows where people are left to fend for themselves in remote places. They usually first seek the basics finding a water source, setting up camp for shelter. When someone starts employment in a business setting we have a modern day example of satisfying basic needs, we usually share with them where the basics are located, such as food, drink, restrooms. The basics need to be satisfied in order for us to move to greater things and trying to satisfy the basics can bring some motivation. Think about how the body and mind respond with lack of food, water, and sleep, we are motivated to satisfy these needs to perform at a higher level. It is not always immediately obvious whether or not these needs are met when we initially encounter people. Sometimes, we fail to provide ourselves with adequate basic needs, usually, sleep deprivation, skipping meals, eating things that are not nutritious, and not getting enough water, to name a few. In order for each of us to live our best lives, we must take care of the basics. In order to help those around us, we must help to ensure other have taken care of their basic needs as well. Tomorrow, we will take a look at Level 2 - Safety Needs.
