Written by Dave Rothacker on February 10, 2021
The need to pursue personal growth and to be everything that we can be is the major prerequisite to fly aboard the Starship Freedom.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to this as self-actualization. In his book Motivations and Personality, Maslow discussed self-actualization. He said that it was attainable after our basic needs of safety, security, elonging, affection, and esteem were met. Here’s an excerpt:
How do you know if you are in self-actualizing mode? Maslow created a list of characteristics of self-actualizing people in the mid-1900’s. Present day psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman sifted and scoured through this list and discovered ten characteristics that stand the test of scientific scrutiny today. Scott discusses them in his book Transcend.
“I am always trying to get at the real truth about people and nature.”
“I accept all of my quirks and desires without shame or apology.”
“I feel a great responsibility and duty to accomplish a particular mission in life."
“I can maintain my dignity and integrity even in environments and situations that are undignified.”
“I can appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have become to others.”
“I often have experiences in which I feel new horizons and possibilities opening up for myself and others.”
“I have a genuine desire to help the human race.”
“I can tell deep down right away when I’ve done something wrong.”
“I tend to take life’s inevitable ups and downs with grace, acceptance, and equanimity.”
You are a service manager or a CSR or a technician or a Comfort Advisor or a plumber or installer. Maybe you own the company. What does this even mean?
No matter where you are in life, no matter your work title, and no matter your level of education, some people have a passionate desire to grow and, with a combination of God-given talents and developing skills, to give. They want to be all that they can possibly be.
If you’re a customer, do you want the people serving you to be all that they can be? If you’re a patient, do you want your doctor to be continuously improving their craft and individual skills? If you’re a line-level employee, do you want your manager to give you everything they got?
If you’re not interested in being all that you can be, in growing and developing, and in actually using your God-given talent and developing skills, then it really doesn’t matter who you work for.
But if you’re reading this, there’s a 99% chance you aren’t like that at all. The key here today is to understand what self-actualization is and to surround yourself with people who:
If you are flying onboard the Starship Freedom, and everyone’s invited, then I believe in you! I believe that you have the ability to grow and to be all that you can be. And that you have the heart to give and make a difference in other people’s lives. I believe in your ability to self-actualize and thereby to make a difference in your world!