Building on Maslow’s famous pyramid of needs, psychologist, author and host of the world’s #1 psychology podcast Scott Barry Kaufman offers a guide to fulfilling your human potential.
Many of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s famous ‘hierarchy of needs’ – a pyramid with food and water at the bottom and ‘self-actualisation’ at the top: the state of possessing deep self-awareness and fully realising your potential in life.
It’s an appealing metaphor: a story of achievement, of mastering life level by level until you’ve “won”. But in reality, life is nothing like a trek up the summit of pyramid. It’s more like a vast ocean, full of new opportunities for meaning and discovery but also danger and uncertainty. The human condition isn’t a competition; it’s an experience.
In this talk, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman picks up where Maslow left off, integrating the latest research on attachment, connection, creativity, love, purpose and other building blocks of a life well-lived. He will present a new theory of self-actualisation that builds upon Maslow’s work while correcting for its weaknesses.
While self-actualisation is often thought of as a purely individual pursuit, Maslow believed that the full realisation of potential requires a merging between self and the world. We don’t have to choose either self-development or self-sacrifice, but at the highest level of human potential we show a deep integration of both.
Join us and discover ideas for connecting not only to your highest creative potential, but forming a deeper connection to others.