Your Ship of Needs

Hey friend, Katie here.

We live in interesting (crazy) times.

In the midst of global turbulence, the Internet is entering its Web 3.0 stage, where the creator economy is self-organizing into interactive micro-communities.

On the one hand, there has never been a better time to be a creator. Opportunities abound for industrious, creative people willing to build businesses from their talents.

Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (‘A Theory of Motivation’, 1943), the global economy has developed to where many people are now reaching beyond basic and psychological needs.

People are now pushing for self-actualization.

On the other hand, AI technology is developing at an accelerated pace, set to change the global economy—and the creator game—entirely.

That’s an unsettling prospect for aspiring creatives, as technology seems likely to threaten their fundamental needs, making it harder to realise their dreams.

So how do you self-actualize when you’re worried about security?

Times like these demand a new way of thinking about our needs.

Enter Scott Barry Kaufman, American cognitive scientist.

In his study Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization (2020), Kaufman explores Maslow’s highest level, which Maslow reimagined to include the spirituality of purpose he called transcendence.

Transcendence, according to Maslow, is the highest realization of the self, in seeing needs beyond the self. It’s a greater purpose in life.

It’s the ‘most holistic’ level of human consciousness, relating ‘to human beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos’.

Given this higher level, Kaufman explains how the Maslow pyramid is too linear for reality—as we move up, down and around its levels at different points in our lives.

So Kaufman reimagines the pyramid as a sailboat.

The sailboat of needs is not only more useful for creators—it’s more realistic and optimistic.

The sailboat of needs is:

• less hierarchical and linear
• more integrative as a set of working parts
• more proactive, imagining the self as a vessel to captain
• imagining all the needs working harmoniously, synergistically
• moving the self towards health, wholeness and purpose
• ultimately transcending individual growth
• in a connectedness with humanity.

In unfavourable conditions (the bad weather of life and the state of the world) we may need to be:

• more preoccupied with safety and security
• less focused on growth and self-actualization.

But if, as creators, we self-actualize with a purpose greater than ourselves, we’ll be working to build a sturdier ship, that sails better, in potentially more favourable conditions.

Imagine you are the builder and captain of your ship.

How is your sailboat coming along?

Are you designing your boat?
Are you building the base?
Now hoisting the sails?
Are you in a storm?
Are you cruising?
Are you bailing?

Have you found a fleet?

Remember in the unpredictable winds and waves of these crazy times, community is the fleet of friends you have to flank you.

In that spirit, I invite you to hit ‘Reply’ today. I’d love to know what you’re working on and how you’re doing. I look forward to getting back to you.

All warm best,

Katie

PS. For extra motivation today, here are five curated thoughts on the concept of purpose.

KAUFMAN’S SAILBOAT
Here’s an interview with Scott Barry Kaufman on growth and self-actualizing
in our times, and how to imagine your sailboat of needs.