Maslow's Hierarchy and your satisfaction in life

Hey, it's Penny here coming you with the another episode. I am recording this during recovery from C. You can probably hear it in my voice as the recording goes on, it comes through more and more. And on that topic of health, I decided I really wanted to break down something that I know you're familiar with, but to really do, a mini dive into Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, because as I mentioned in one of the earlier episodes fulfillment is important to people. Self-actualization is important to people, and I really wanted to talk about self-actualization in terms of, how it falls. It's the peak, it's the peak of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and that is because there are so many other things in our life that need to be satisfied. Or fulfilled for us to reach that level of self-actualization, that ultimate level.  If you're listening to this podcast, most likely you are not dealing with. first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The foundational level is physiological needs. That is our basic “what we have to have to survive”. Air, food, water, shelter, sleep clothing, to reproduce, to carry on the species. Those are the very basic things and depending on where you are in business. You know that when people are in need of these basic physiological needs, they're less likely to invest in the things that are in the higher tiers of Maslow's hierarchy. If you're in business, there's also a chance that you have at some point in your journey experienced a deficit in these basic physiological needs. The more business owners and entrepreneurs I meet, I hear their stories about how they ended up in business because they had to find a way that worked for them to create income and to create a level of financial security that they ensure that not only do they ever enter back into a place of such uncertainty in their lives, but that their children and their grandchildren also do not ever have to be concerned about having those basic needs met, taking that to the next level. These same people, also generally tend to quietly support organizations who help eradicate poverty food and security, those types of things.  Safety needs is the second level, and our safety needs comes to our personal security, employment, resources, health and property. This one, it's only the second rung on the ladder, and most highly successful people would say, Oh, this is met. However, if you're looking at your financial security, whether you're looking at it as employment or your resources, if you have fears in your business around money. If you have worries of lack, if you have concerns that it's going to run out. If you sit back and say, Oh my God, like, why can't I keep money? I am spending money faster than it comes in. I don't understand why I do this. If you have these cycles of behavior and you have these underlying fears and self-talk and thoughts, then you haven't met your personal safety needs. So then it becomes difficult to address that next tier, which is your love and belonging, your friendship, your intimacy, your family, your sense of connection. You can have a relationship, you can have a family. But it may not be all that it can be because these other fears around your personal security, your financial security impact those relationships, they impact family. I've had situations where I've worked with a client who managed to cash out on huge e-commerce business that they had built, and they had kept their wealth quiet from their family. I mean, their family knew they had a business. They knew they were doing okay, but they kept it quiet because of all the judgment from family. And then once the business sold, they decided to, basically take a sabbatical, to sit back and regroup and think about what they really wanted for them and for their family. So now they've moved during the pandemic, they've moved into this nice home, they're remodeling, and neither one of them are working. And now the family is like, what are you doing? What's happening? So their relationships were actually being impacted by their financial security. So there were some issues there with the relationship. Obviously it was the family member's problem, it wasn't their problem, except on some level, one of the reasons they have never shared with family their level of wealth was because they knew their family couldn't handle that they were wealthy and they didn't want it to negatively impact their relationships. And unfortunately, The bottom line is when we're in relationships with people, everybody brings their own shit into the relationship, their own stories, their own problems, their own perceptions of what wealth is, what poverty is. what love should look like. what's greedy, what's not greedy, all of these things, right? It's why so many people don't share their wealth and when they become wealthy, they begin to close ranks on their circle, of who you let in. And it's totally understandable.  So those money stories right, can impact. , that whole sense of love and belonging if you're having issues with relationships and acceptance and whatnot. This can stem all the way from your childhood. Okay? These impressions that you get around your sense of acceptance and belonging and love. This impacts your ability to then have the next tier, which is esteem on Maslow's Hierarchy. Self-respect, self-esteem, recognition, strength, freedom. It's being able to allow yourself to accept all that you have and can't accomplish and to believe in yourself. You don't need external validation for those things you recognize within yourself, that you have the ability and the capability to create opportunities in your life for whatever it is that you desire, whatever that may look like. If you're having issues with love and belonging and that acceptance that also impacts your relationship with yourself.  Now, self-actualization is about this desire to be the best version of yourself to be the most impactful person that you can be, and not from an ego standpoint, but that you're striving to be your best and you're striving. I don't wanna say do more to have a greater impact, and to feel confident in your ability to just be and to know that you're enough as you are and to allow yourself to do your best and to always do your best and to strive for that best without judging yourself for not being there yet. That is really where self-actualization comes in because when you have self-esteem, when you have self respect, when you have self love, we can reflect and recognize qualities in ourselves that need to improve without tearing ourselves down. Um, So you can be your best. You can go out and do your best all day long, but in the back of your mind, If you're struggling with this, voice, like, you know, you're going along smoothly and then it crops up again. That's, the imposter syndrome, that secret imposter, it's not good enough. You're never good enough. If people only knew you're just like them, blah, blah, blah. We've all heard it. I'm not gonna sit here and regurgitate to you what every other mindset, motivation guru out there has talked to you about. But when that inner voice is going, it becomes a glass ceiling, becomes an invisible barrier, and to not even to go and beat yourself up about that because it's human nature. It's the way our brains are wired. If you really wanna reach this pinnacle of just being at peace with yourself, inner peace is achievable.  Inner peace comes from knocking down the unhealthy beliefs around your resources, your safety, your security, getting rid of all the bs, future surfing fears that you have. Creating this place where you know that you're worthy, you know that you're lovable from the inside out. It's not anything anyone can do for you, but you, create this foundation and then your relationships begin to change because when your relationship with yourself changes your relationship with others, change. Your self-esteem builds off of that. Your strength, your resilience, your freedom. You're not accomplishing things out of fight or flight. You're accomplishing things just because you simply know that you can. And you know that when it all hits the fan, because we have no control. It's an illusion. When it all hits the fan, we can take a deep breath and step back and say, Okay. we know exactly what we need to do, or we need to know the people we need to bring in, or the questions that we need to ask to make this happen. Let's do it. And yes, it might be stressful, but you're not stressed about your ability within it. And when you've reached that place, You can push a little more. You can push a little more to see what's next for you. That next challenge, because as creatives and highly successful people, we love a challenge, so long as the challenge does not become a cycle where we're constantly chasing dopamine, and that's gonna be something for another episode. So anyway, I hope you like this little mini dive. Let me know what you think. You can leave a comment below the episode, leave a review if you're catching this through the email link that we sent you. Then hit reply. Tell me what you think and I will see you nexteek.