Optimizing your human needs

My understanding of the path to greatness begins with Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs,’ which I’ve crudely interpreted and summarized as follows:

1. A person who has the potential to be great may never fully realize their talents if their energy is focused on attaining basic human needs like food, water and the security of health and property.
2. But as their basic needs are met, that person can now afford to focus more of their energy on fulfilling more complex human needs, like love, self-esteem and respect of others.
3. As these complex needs are met, that person can now afford to focus more of their energy on fulfilling even more complex & cerebral needs, like the search for knowledge, the search for beauty and personal growth.
4. Once their most complex & cerebral needs are met, that person can now afford to focus their energy on realizing their own talents, reaching their human potential and helping others do the same.

Here is one additional observation on human needs that has shaped my understanding of the path to greatness: Many people strain to reach their potential to be great, not due to their inability to fulfill basic or complex human needs, but due to their proximity to others (who they care about) who are struggling to do so. Searching for beauty, balance and form feels like a waste of energy when your sister is struggling to afford baby food and make rent all while paying down her student loan debt.

These observations have led me to the following conclusions:

If we want to be great, we need to first optimize our fulfillment of basic human needs. Answering questions like “How do I optimize my nutrition and wellness?” and “How do I optimize the security of my health, resources and property?” and so on.

We then need to optimize our fulfillment of the more complex human needs. Answering questions like “How can I be the best possible friend, family member and spouse?”, “How do I strengthen and maintain my self-esteem, confidence and respect of others?”, “How do I optimize my search for knowledge, meaning, beauty and balance?” and “How do I identify the personal growth and peak experiences that I need to be my best self?”

Once we do this, we then need to support our partner’s optimized fulfillment of these needs using our unique talents. And then we need to do the same for everyone who we care about: our children, our extended family, our friends, our colleagues, our community, our city and our culture.

But for many Americans — for members of the striving majority — there are countless formidable obstacles standing between them and their fulfillment of human needs (basic & complex).

Many corporate executives are rewarded handsomely by selling them self-esteem placebos. Many modern industrialists are building intergenerational wealth on the backs of workers whose bodies they’re putting in harms way. Whole industries are buoyed and strengthened when our sense of safety is manipulated.

These obstacles are baked-into the rules of a game that strivers no longer need to play.