Abraham Maslow called it “self-actualization.” A funny term, that. I never quite understood its meaning until I realized that to “actualize” a television set is simply to press the button that activates it and turns it on. Hence, to be a self-actualizing person is to know how to activate yourself, energize yourself, turn yourself on. What trips your trigger and presses your button? What's the thing that when you're doing it, you don't feel like you ought to be doing something else? Most people think they'd be happy if they could just spend all their time in recreational activities, but I've never known of a person who golfed or fished or skied themselves into happiness. You haven't been mistaking pleasure for happiness, have you?In his famous hierarchy of needs, Maslow estimated that 10 to 20 percent of our population stays focused on securing food and shelter to meet their biological needs and/or the protection to meet their safety needs. The focus of approximately 60 percent of us is to belong to a group, to socialize within it and feel loved. About 20-30 percent of us are pursuing greater self-esteem and individuality within our groups, trying to “stand out.” Sadly, Maslow estimated that only about 2 percent of us have fully satisfied these lower needs and moved into “self-actualization.” Maslow described self-actualization as an ongoing process; “Self-actualizing people are involved in a cause outside their own skin. They are devoted; work at something, something very precious to them – some calling or vocation, in the old sense, the priestly sense. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write. If these needs are not met, the person feels restlessness, on edge, tense, and lacking something. Lower needs may also produce a restless feeling, but here is it much easier to find the cause. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem the cause is apparent. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.” How long have you been promising yourself that you'll start doing what you truly love “as soon as you can find the time?” Don't wait. Please don't wait.”It's better to burn the candle at both ends, and in the middle, too, than to put it away in the closet and let the mice eat it.” – Henry Van DykeHave you been letting the mice eat your candle? Roy H. WilliamsPS – People on the brink of self-actualization are often attracted to the Magical Worlds curriculum at Wizard Academy where I've learned that, if you put these people in a room together for 3 days, they tend to bump each other over the edge. (And that's a very good thing.)PPS – Advertising professionals – Do you know what makes your clients' hearts go pitter-pat? Do you know what each of them would do if all jobs paid the same? Do you know what actualizes them? Have you found their Swords in the Stone? This process will be discussed in a new 12-session training series to be released on DVD and VHS in late August. For more information, visit www.WizardAcademyPress.com