Abraham Maslow's Self-Actualisation Need

Abraham Maslow outlined five key human needs that must be satisfied. The first four needs must be fulfilled just to survive and live a normal life.

The fifth need, however, is what Maslow called the "Self-Actualization" need.

Maslow defined this as "the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."

Maslow argued that once someone has everything that they need to survive, they can then look to maximise their potential.

They can, for example, seek knowledge, work on their spiritual understanding, donate their time and resources to helping causes that they believe in and spend time creating works of art, music or literature.

In today's society, it is usually people who are retired and in good health that have the time and resources to fully partake in these activities.

However, Maslow urges us all, despite our time or resource limitations, to at least fulfill this need to a minimum level if we are to grow and fulfill our own potential.

Abraham Maslow identified four needs that must be fulfilled to survive and live normally. The fifth need, he argues, is one that we must fulfill in order to grow and to maximise our potential. We must take time to learn more, contribute to others, be creative, be inquisitive, be spiritual and be aware of the beauty of life and nature if we are to fulfill our self-actualisation need and to live life at its highest level.