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Are you an honest person? Are you highly creative? Do you have strong moral/ethical standards? If so, you may be on your way towards achieving self-actualization, which refers to the need for personal growth and development that exists throughout your life. If you are self-actualized, you work hard to grow and become who you want to be in life and reach your full potential.

Self-actualization is the motivation to realize your own maximum potential and possibilities. It is considered to be the master motive or the only real motive, all other motives being its various forms.

According to his Hierarchy of Needs, psychologist Abraham Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy ascending from the lowest to the highest and he concluded that when one set of needs was satisfied, this kind of need ceased to be a motivator.

He suggests that each individual has an inbuilt need for personal development, which occurs through the Self-Actualization process that occurs when you maximize your potential, doing the best that you are capable of doing. He says that all individuals have the need to see themselves as competent and independent, and that every person has limitless room for growth.

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the need for self-actualization is the final need that manifests when lower level needs have been satisfied. Only when the bottom level of need is satisfied can you develop the one above it. You must also take into consideration the impact of the changes that occur throughout life that will inevitably require us to change accordingly.

The hierarchy is a motivation theory that suggests seven interdependent levels of basic human needs (motivators) that must be satisfied in a strict sequence starting with the lowest level. Physiological needs for survival (to stay alive and reproduce) and security (to feel safe) are the most fundamental and most pressing needs. They are followed by social needs (for love and belonging) and self-esteem needs (to feel worthy, respected, and have status). The final and highest level of needs is self-actualization needs (self-fulfillment and achievement).

The layers are:

•At the bottom of the hierarchy are the basic Physiological needs for sustaining human life itself such as food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, and sex. Maslow took the position that until these needs are satisfied to the degree necessary to maintain life, other needs will not motivate people.

•Second are the needs for Safety and Security or the needs for protection, especially those that emerge from social or political instability, order, law, stability, and freedom from fear. These are the needs to be free of physical danger and the fear of loss of a job, property, food, or shelter.

•Thirdly, is to satisfy the need for Belonging and Love (Affiliation or acceptance) needs including the needs of deficiency and selfish taking instead of giving, and unselfish love that is based upon growth rather than deficiency. Since people are social beings, they need to belong, to be accepted by others. The needs of friendship, intimacy, affection and love from the work group, family, friends, and romantic relationships.

•The fourth level refers to meeting the need for Self-Esteem and Self-Worth, self-respect, and healthy, positive feelings derived from admiration. According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfactions as power, prestige, status, and self-confidence.

•At the top of Maslow’s hierarchy, is the need for Self-Actualization which refers to self-fulfillment and the need to reach personal full potential as a unique human being seeking personal growth and peak experiences. It is the desire to become what one is capable of becoming – to maximize one’s potential and to accomplish something.