Tuesday, July 1, 2008

It's All the Little Things


“The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
—William James

Psychologist, Abraham Maslow developed the theory of a hierarchy on needs in 1943. Being interested exemplary behavior, Maslow choose to study well-adjusted subjects rather than subjects with psychological disorders. Maslow’s theory consists of five levels of need: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization. His theory is often depicted as a pyramidal structure. The higher level needs, esteem and self-actualization are dependent upon the lower level needs (physiological, safety and love/belonging) being met. Because of the hierarchal dependency, Maslow believes that most adults never fully reach the self-actualization level. According to Maslow, self-actualization takes place when a person reaches their full potential. Since most adults never become fully self-actualized, they spend a significant amount of their life attempting to satisfy the needs in the level below self-actualization; the level of esteem.

According to Maslow, the need of esteem is met when people have self-respect, self-esteem, respect from others and recognition from others. Seeking to fulfill this need, a person will engage in behaviors and activities where they feel they can make a contribution, and in return, they will receive acceptance and recognition. The acceptance and recognition contributes to higher levels of self-respect and self-esteem. The more self-esteem and self-respect as person has, the more likely the person will engage in behaviors that lead to more acceptance and recognition. Maslow once said, “Recognition is a need we all crave, and there are no exceptions."

To illustrate the importance of recognition, imagine yourself as a baseball player: You’re at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and your team is behind by three runs. The first pitch is delivered; you swing and make solid contact. The ball flies through the air and over the fence for a home run. You’ve just hit a walk-off homerun. As you round the bases, there is no cheering, no applauding, no nothing! When you reach home plate, you're not surrounded by your teammates, no one has run out to greet you. Your teammates seem to attending to their own needs. You think... what happened? Did I do something wrong? Something inside you tells you something isn’t right.

All too often, were too busy with our own lives or too preoccupied with our own needs that we fail to recognize others who are deserving of recognition. I’m not necessarily talking about major milestones events and achievements, for those occasions get recognized in their own right. I’m talking about the little things that people do or say for us. I’m talking about the things we take for granted. It’s the little things that get recognized that end up meaning the most. Why? People tend to expect recognition for the big things, and not the little things. Hence, recognizing little things are an unexpected gift from the heart.

Make it a point today and everyday to recognize family, friends and coworkers for all the little things that they do. Don’t wait for someone to hit the "big" homerun before you recognize them; for homeruns come few and far between. Baseball games are rarely won by the "big" homerun. Rather, its the single base hits that wins games; one single at a time. Remember, in the long run, its the little things that really count!

It's your life; live it, love it & celebrate it!

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