Abraham Maslow studied the greatest people of his generation. People like Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein.
He told us about the importance of actualizing our potential. In fact, he said that “What one CAN be, one *must* be.”
This need to self-actualize is, at a certain stage of development, as important as our need to breathe.
It’s kinda like soul oxygen.
So, part 1 of this +1 is a question for you: What must YOU be?
(… Think about that for a moment… What MUST you be?! …)
Part 2: Maslow also told us that in any given moment we have a choice. We can step forward into growth. Or, we can step back into safety.
Forward into growth. Back into safety. Forward into growth. Or back into safety.
I like to think of this as +1 or -1.
Moment to moment to moment. We have a choice. +1 or -1. +1 or -1. +1 or -1.
Step forward. Or go backward. Step forward. Or go backward.
How we feel at the end of the day is largely determined by those micro-moments of decision. You let enough of those -1 moments trickle into your life and you’re going to want to crack open a bottle of something or do whatever you do when you’re off.
Alternatively, sprinkle a ton of +1s into your day and you’re feeling radiantly alive and in love with life.
Oh. And aggregate and compound those micro-moments into days and weeks and months and years?
That’s your destiny.
So… Let’s choose wisely.
+1. +1. +1.
P.S. Maslow also said that “If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.”
Yikes.
Remember: +1. +1. +1.
